rr- 


•  ' 


-    6,et>-i«. 


^     ' 


(-^ 


THE 


PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND: 


A  STORY  OF  THE  COAST  OF  MAINE. 


BY 

MRS.   HARRIET   BEECHER   STOWE, 

AUTHOR  OF  "UNCLE  TOM'S  CABIN,"  "THE  MINISTER'S  WOOING,"  ETC. 


B  O'S  T  O  N : 
TIOKNOR   AND    FIELDS 

1862. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1862,  by 

MRS.  HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


RIVERSIDE,   CAMBRIDGE: 

STEREOTYPED   AND  PRINTED  BY  H.   0.   HOUGHTON. 


THE  PEAEL   OF   OER'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON  the  road  to  the  Kennebec,  below  the  town  of  Bath, 
in  the  State  of  Maine,  might  have  been  seen,  on  a  cer 
tain  autumnal  afternoon,  a  one-horse  wagon,  in  which  two 
persons  were  sitting.  One  is  an  old  man,  with  the  pecu 
liarly  hard  but  expressive  physiognomy  which  character 
izes  the  seafaring  population  of  the  New  England  shores. 

A  clear  blue  eye,  evidently  practised  in  habits  of  keen 
observation,  white  hair,  bronzed,  weather-beaten  cheeks, 
and  a  face  deeply  lined  with  the  furrows  of  shrewd 
thought  and  anxious  care,  were  points  of  the  portrait 
that  made  themselves  felt  at  a  glance. 

By  his  side  sat  a  young  woman  of  two-and-twenty,  of 
a  marked  and  peculiar  personal  appearance.  Her  hair 
was  black,  and  smoothly  parted  on  a  broad  forehead,  to 
which  a  pair  of  pencilled  dark  eyebrows  gave  a  striking 
and  definite  outline.  Beneath,  lay  a  pair  of  large  black 
eyes,  remarkable  for  tremulous  expression  of  melancholy 
and  timidity.  The  cheek  was  white  and  bloodless  as  a 
snowberry,  though  with  the  clear  and  perfect  oval  of 
good  health ;  the  mouth  was  delicately  formed,  with  a 
certain  sad  quiet  in  its  lines,  which  indicated  a  habitu 
ally  repressed  and  sensitive  nature. 

The  dress  of  this  young  person,  as  often  happens  in 
1 


2  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

New  England,  was,  in  refinement  and  even  elegance,  a 
marked  contrast  to  that  of  her  male  companion  and  to 
the  humble  vehicle  in  which  she  rode.  There  was  not 
only  the  most  fastidious  neatness,  but  a  delicacy  in  the 
choice  of  colors,  an  indication  of  elegant  tastes  in  the 
whole  arrangement,  and  the  quietest  suggestion  in  the 
world  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  usages  of  fashion, 
which  struck  one  oddly  in  those  wild  and  dreary  sur 
roundings.  On  the  whole,  she  impressed  one  like  those 
fragile  wild-flowers  which  in  April  cast  their  fluttering 
shadows  from  the  mossy  crevices  of  the  old  New  Eng 
land  granite,  —  an  existence  in  which  colorless  delicacy 
is  united  to  a  sort  of  elastic  hardihood  of  life,  fit  for  the 
rocky  soil  and  harsh  winds  it  is  born  to  encounter. 

The  scenery  of  the  road  along  which  the  two  were 
riding  was  wild  and  bare.  Only  savins  and  mulleins, 
with  their  dark  pyramids  or  white  spires  of  velvet  leaves, 
diversified  the  sandy  way-side  ;  but  out  at  sea  was  a  wide 
sweep  of  blue,  reaching  far  to  the  open  ocean,  which  lay 
rolling,  tossing,  and  breaking  into  white  caps  of  foam  in 
the  bright  sunshine.  For  two  or  three  days  a  north-east 
storm  had  been  raging,  and  the  sea  was  in  all  the  com 
motion  which  such  a  general  upturning  creates. 

The  two  travellers  reached  a  point  of  elevated  land, 
where  they  paused  a  moment,  and  the  man  drew  up  the 
jogging,  stiff-jointed  old  farm-horse,  and  raised  himself 
upon  his  feet  to  look  out  at  the  prospect. 

There  might  be  seen  in  the  distance  the  blue  Kenne- 
bec  sweeping  out  toward  the  ocean  through  its  pictur 
esque  rocky  shores,  decked  with  cedars  and  other  dusky 
evergreens,  which  were  illuminated  by  the  orange  and 
flame-colored  trees  of  Indian  summer.  Here  and  there 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

scarlet  creepers  swung  long  trailing  garlands  over  the 
faces  of  the  dark  rock,  and  fringes  of  golden  rod  above 
swayed  with  the  brisk  blowing  wind  that  was  driving  the 
blue  waters  seaward,  in  face  of  the  up-coming  ocean  tide,  — 
a  conflict  which  caused  them  to  rise  in  great  foam-crested 
waves.  There  were  two  channels  into  this  river  from 
the  open  sea,  navigable  for  ships  which  are  coming  in 
to  the  city  of  Bath ;  one  is  broad  and  shallow,  the  other 
narrow  and  deep,  and  these  are  divided  by  a  steep  ledge 
of  rocks. 

Where  the  spectators  of  this  scene  were  sitting,  they 
could  see  in  the  distance  a  ship  borne  with  tremendous 
force  by  the  rising  tide  into  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and 
encountering  a  north-west  wind  which  had  succeeded  the 
gale,  as  northwest  winds  often  do  on  this  coast.  The 
ship,  from  what  might  be  observed  in  the  distance,  seemed 
struggling  to  make  the  wider  channel,  but  was  constantly 
driven  off  by  the  baffling  force  of  the  wind. 

"  There  she  is,  Naomi,"  said  the  old  fisherman,  eagerly, 
to  his  companion,  "coming  right  in."     The  young  woman   | 
was  one  of  the   sort   that  never  start,  and  never  exclaim,  | 
but  with  all  deeper  emotions  grow   still.     The  color  slow 
ly  mounted  into  her  cheek,  her  lips  parted,  and  her  eyes 
dilated    with    a    wide,    bright    expression ;    her    breathing 
came    in    thick    gasps,    but    she   said    nothing. 

The  old  fisherman  stood  up  in  the  wagon,  his  coarse, 
butternut-colored  coat-flaps  fluttering  and  snapping  in  the 
breeze,  while  his  interest  seemed  to  be  so  intense  in  the 
efforts  of  the  ship  that  he  made  involuntary  and  eager 
movements  as  if  to  direct  her  course.  A  moment  passed, 
and  his  keen,  practised  eye  discovered  a  change  in  her 
movements,  for  he  cried  out  involuntarily,  — 


4  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Don't  take  the  narrow  channel  to-day ! "  and  a  mo 
ment  after,  "  O  Lord  !  O  Lord !  have  mercy,  —  there 
they  go!  Look!  look!  look!" 

And,  in  fact,  the  ship  rose  on  a  great  wave  clear  out 
of  the  water,  and  the  next  second  seemed  to  leap  with  a 
desperate  plunge  into  the  narrow  passage;  for  a  moment 
there  was  a  shivering  of  the  masts  and  the  rigging,  and 
she  went  down  and  was  gone. 

"  They  're  split  to  pieces  !  "  cried  the  fisherman.  "  Oh, 
my  poor  girl  —  my  poor  girl  —  they  're  gone  !  O  Lord, 
have  mercy !  " 

The  woman  lifted  up  no  voice,-  but,  as  one  who  has 
been  shot  through  the  heart  falls  with  no  cry,  she  fell 
back,  —  a  mist  rose  up  over  her  great  mournful  eyes,  — 
she  had  fainted. 

The  story  of  this  wreck  of  a  home-bound  ship  just 
entering  the  harbor  is  yet  told  in  many  a  family  on  this 
coast.  A  few  hours  after,  the  unfortunate  crew  were 
..washed  ashore  in  all  the  joyous  holiday  rig  in  which 
they  had  attired  themselves  that  morning  to  go  to  their 
sisters,  wives,  and  mothers. 

This  is  the  first  scene  in  our  story. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  II. 

DOWN  near  the  end  of  Orr's  Island,  facing  the  open  ocean, 
stands  a  brown  house  of  the  kind  that  the  natives  call  "  lean- 
to,"  or  "  linter,"  —  one  of  those  large,  comfortable  structures, 
barren  in  the  ideal,  but  rich  in  the  practical,  which  the 
working-man  of  New  England  can  always  command. 

The  waters  of  the  ocean  came  up  within  a  rod  of  this 
house,  and  the  sound  of  its  moaning  waves  was  even  now 
filling  the  clear  autumn  starlight.  Evidently  something  was 
going  on  within,  for  candles  fluttered  and  winked  from  win 
dow  to  window,  like  fireflies  in  a  dark  meadow,  and  sounds 
as  of  quick  footsteps,  and  the  flutter  of  brushing  garments, 
might  be  heard. 

Something  unusual  is  certainly  going  on  within  the  dwell 
ing  of  Zephaniah  Fennel  to-night. 

Let  us  enter  the  dark  front-door.  We  feel  our  way  to 
the  right,  where  a  solitary  ray  of  light  comes  from  the  chink 
of  a  half-opened  door. 

Here  is  the  front  room  of  the  house,  set  apart  as  its  place 
of  especial  social  hilarity  and  sanctity,  —  the  "  best  room," 
with  its  low  studded  walls,  white  dimity  window-curtains, 
rag  carpet,  and  polished  wood  chairs. 

It  is  now  lit  by  the  dim  gleam  of  a  solitary  tallow  candle, 
which  seems  in  the  gloom  to  make  only  a  feeble  circle  of 
light  around  itself,  leaving  all  the  rest  of  the  apartment  in 
shadow. 

In  the  centre  of  the  room,  stretched  upon  a  table,  and 


6  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

covered  partially  by  a  sea-cloak,  lies  the  body  of  a  man  of 
twenty-five,  —  lies,  too,  evidently  as  one  of  whom  it  is 
written,  —  "  He  shall  return  to  his  house  no  more,  neither 
shall  his  place  know  him  any  more."  A  splendid  man 
hood  has  suddenly  been  called  to  forsake  that  lifeless  form, 
leaving  it,  like  a  deserted  palace,  beautiful  in  its  desola 
tion. 

The  hair,  dripping  with  the  salt  wave,  curled  in  glossy 
abundance  on  the  finely-formed  head  ;  the  flat,  broad  brow  ; 
the  closed  eye,  with  its  long  black  lashes  ;  the  firm,  manly 
mouth ;  the  strongly-moulded  chin,  —  all,  all  were  sealed 
with  that  seal  which  is  never  to  be  broken  till  the  great 
resurrection  day. 

He  was  lying  in  a  full  suit  of  broadcloth,  with  a  white 
vest  and  smart  blue  neck-tie,  fastened  with  a  pin,  in  which 
was  some  braided  hair  under  a  crystal.  All  his  clothing,  as 
well  as  his  hair,  was  saturated  with  sea-water,  which  trickled  j 
from  time  to  time,  and  struck  with  a  leaden  and  dropping 
sound  into  a  sullen  pool  which  lay  under  the  table. 

This  was  the  body  of  James  Lincoln,  ship-master  of  the    • 
brig   Flying   Scud,  who  that  morning  had  dressed  himself 
gayly  in  his  state-room  to  go  on  shore  and  meet  his  wife,  — 
singing  and  jesting  as  he  did  so.  ** 

This  is  all  that  you  have  to  learn  in  the  room  below ;  but 
as  we  stand  there,  we  hear  a  trampling  of  feet  in  the  apart 
ment  above,  —  the  quick  yet  careful  opening  and  shutting 
of  doors,  —  and  voices  come  and  go  about  the  house,  and  « 
whisper  consultations  on  the  stairs.  Now  comes  the  roll  of 
wheels,  and  the  Doctor's  gig  drives  up  to  the  door ;  and,  as 
he  goes  creaking  up  with  his  heavy  boots,  we  will  follow  and 
gain  admission  to  the  dimly-lighted  chamber. 

Two  gossips  are  sitting  in  earnest,  whispering  conversa-  n 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  7 

tion  over  a  small  bundle  done  up  in  an  old  flannel  petticoat. 
To  them  the  doctor  is  about  to  address  himself  cheerily,  but 
is  repelled  by  sundry  signs  and  sounds  which  warn  him  not 
to  speak. 

Moderating  his  heavy  boots  as  well  as  he  is  able  to  a  pace 
of  quiet,  he  advances  for  a  moment,  and  the  petticoat  is  un 
folded  for  him  to  glance  at  its  contents  ;  while  a  low,  eager, 
whispered  conversation,  attended  with  much  head-shaking, 
warns  him  that  his  first  duty  is  with  somebody  behind  the 
checked  curtains  of  a  bed  in  the  farther  corner  of  the  room. 
He  steps  on  tiptoe,  and  draws  the  curtain ;  and  there,  with 
closed  eye,  and  cheek  as  white  as  wintry  snow,  lies  the  same 
face  over  which  passed  the  shadow  of  death  when  that  ill- 
fated  ship  went  down. 

This  woman  was  wife  to  him  who  lies  below,  and  within 
the  hour  has  been  made  mother  to  a  frail  little  human  exist 
ence,  which  the  storm  of  a  great  anguish  has  driven  untime 
ly  on  the  shores  of  life,  —  a  precious  pearl  cast  up  from  the 
past  eternity  upon  the  wet,  wave-ribbed  sand  of  the  present. 
Now,  weary  with  her  meanings,  and  beaten  out  with  the 
wrench  of  a  double  anguish,  she  lies  with  closed  eyes  in  that 
passive  apathy  which  precedes  deeper  shadows  and  longer 
rest. 

Over  against  her,  on  the  other  side  of  the  bed,  sits  an  aged 
woman  in  an  attitude  of  deep  dejection,  and  the  old  man  we 
saw  with  her  in  the  morning  is  standing  with  an  anxious, 
awe-struck  face  at  the  foot  of  the  bed. 

The  doctor  feels  the  pulse  of  the  woman,  or  rather  lays 
an  inquiring  finger  where  the  slightest  thread  of  vital  cur 
rent  is  scarcely  throbbing,  and  shakes  his  head  mourn 
fully. 

The  touch  of  his  hand  rouses  her,  —  her  large,  wild,  mel- 


8  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

ancholy  eyes  fix  themselves  on  him  with  an  inquiring  glance, 
then  she  shivers  and  moans,  — 

"  Oh,  Doctor,  Doctor !  —  Jamie,  Jamie !  " 

"  Come,  come  ! "  said  the  doctor,  "  cheer  up,  my  girl ; 
you  've  got  a  fine  little  daughter,  —  the  Lord  mingles  mer 
cies  with  his  afflictions." 

Her  eyes  closed,  her  head  moved  with  a  mournful  but 
decided  dissent. 

A  moment  after  she  spoke  in  the  sad  old  words  of  the 
Hebrew  Scripture,  — 

"  Call  her  not  Naomi ;  call  her  Mara,  for  the  Almighty 
hath  dealt  very  bitterly  with  me." 

And  as  she  spoke,  there  passed  over  her  face  the  sharp 
frost  of  the  last  winter ;  but  even  as  it  passed  there  broke 
out  a  smile,  as  if  a  flower  had  been  thrown  down  from  Para 
dise,  and  she  said,  — 

"  Not  my  will,  but  thy  will,"  and  so  was  gone. 

Aunt  Roxy  and  Aunt  Ruey  were  soon  left  alone  in  the 
chamber  of  death. 

I  "  She  '11  make  a  beautiful  corpse,"  said  Aunt  Roxy,  sur- 
!  veying  the  still,  white  form  contemplatively,  with  her  head 
I  in  an  artistic  attitude. 

"  She  was  a  pretty  girl,"  said  Aunt  Ruey ;  "  dear  me, 
what  a  Providence  !  I  'member  the  wedd'n  down  in  that 
lower  room,  and  what  a  handsome  couple  they  were." 

"  They  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  in 
their  deaths  they  were  not  divided,"  said  Aunt  Roxy,  sen- 
tentiously. 

"  What  was  it  she  said,  did  ye  hear  ?  "  said  Aunt  Ruey. 

"  She  called  the  baby  '  Mary.'  " 

"  Ah  !  sure  enough,  her  mother's  name  afore  her.  What 
a  still,  softly-spoken  thing  she  always  was  !  " 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

«  A  pity  the  poor  baby  didn't  go  with  her,"  said  Aunt' 
Roxy;  "seven-months'  children  are  so  hard  to  raise." 

"  'T  is  a  pity,"  said  the  other. 

But  babies  will  live,  and  all  the  more  when  everybody 
says  that  it  is  a  pity  they  should.  Life  goes  on  as  inex 
orably  in  this  world  as  death. 

It  was  ordered  by  THE  WILL  above  that  out  of  these  two 
graves  should  spring  one  frail,  trembling  autumn  flower,  - 
the  "  Mara "  whose  poor  little  roots  first  struck  deep  in  the 
salt,  bitter  waters  of  our  mortal  life. 


10  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Now,  I  cannot  think  of  anything  more  unlikely  and  unin 
teresting  to  make  a  story  of  than  that  old  brown  "  linter " 
house  of  Captain  Zephaniah  Pennel,  down  on  the  south 
end  of  Orr's  Island. 

Zephaniah  and  Mary  Pennel,  like  Zacharias  and  Eliza 
beth,  are  a  pair  of  worthy,  God-fearing  people,  walking  in 
all  the  commandments  and  ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless ; 
but  that  is  no  great  recommendation  to  a  world  gaping  for 
sensation  and  calling  for  something  stimulating.  This  wor 
thy  couple  never  read  anything  but  the  Bible,  the  Missionary 
Herald,  and  the  Christian  Mirror,  —  never  went  anywhere 
except  in  the  round  of  daily  business.  He  owned  a  fishing- 
smack,  in  which  he  labored  after  the  apostolic  fashion ;  and 
she  washed,  and  ironed,  and  scrubbed,  and  brewed,  and  baked, 
in  her  contented  round,  week  in  and  out.  The  only  recrea 
tion  they  ever  enjoyed  was  the  going  once  a  week,  in  good 
weather,  to  a  prayer-meeting  in  a  little  old  brown  school- 
house,  about  a  mile  from  their  dwelling;  and  making  a 
weekly  excursion  every  Sunday,  in  their  fishing  craft,  to 
the  church  opposite,  on  Harpswell  Neck. 

To  be  sure,  Zephaniah  had  read  many  wide  leaves 
of  God's  great  book  of  Nature,  for,  like  most  Maine 
sea-captains,  he  had  been  wherever  ship  can  go,  —  to  all 
usual  and  unusual  ports.  His  hard,  shrewd,  weather-beaten 
visage  had  been  seen  looking  over  the  railings  of  his  brig 
in  the  port  of  Genoa,  swept  round  by  its  splendid  crescent  of 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  11 

palaces  and  its  snow-crested  Apennines.  It  had  looked  out 
in  the  Lagoons  of  Venice  at  that  wavy  floor  which  in  evening 
seems  a  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire,  and  out  of  which  rise 
temples,  and  palaces,  and  churches,  and  distant  silvery  Alps, 
like  so  many  fabrics  of  dream-land.  He  had  been  through 
the  Skagerrack  and  Cattegat,  —  into  the  Baltic,  and  away 
round  to  Archangel,  and  there  chewed  a  bit  of  chip,  and 
considered  and  calculated  what  bargains  it  was  best  to  make. 
He  had  walked  the  streets  of  Calcutta  in  his  shirt-sleeves, 
with  his  best  Sunday  vest,  backed  with  black  glazed  cambric, 
which  six  months  before  came  from  the  hands  of  Miss  Roxy, 
and  was  pronounced  by  her  to  be  as  good  as  any  tailor 
could  make ;  and  in  all  these  places  he  was  just  Zephaniah 
Fennel,  —  a  chip  of  old  Maine,  —  thrifty,  careful,  shrewd, 
honest,  God-fearing,  and  carrying  an  instinctive  knowledge 
of  men  and  things  under  a  face  of  rustic  simplicity. 

It  was  once,  returning  from  one  of  his  voyages,  that  he 
found  his  wife  with  a  black-eyed,  curly-headed  little  creature, 
who  called  him  papa,  and  climbed  on  his  knee,  nestled  under 
his  coat,  rifled  his  pockets,  and  woke  him  every  morning  by 
pulling  open  his  eyes  with  little  fingers^  and  jabbering  unin 
telligible  dialects  in  his  ears. 

"  We  will  call  this  child  Naomi,  wife,"  he  said,  after  con 
sulting  his  old  Bible ;  "  for  that  means  pleasant,  and  I  'm 
sure  I  never  see  anything  beat  her  for  pleasantness.  I 
never  knew  as  children  was  so  engagin'!" 

It  was  to  be  remarked  that  Zephaniah  after  this  made 
shorter  and  shorter  voyages,  being  somehow  conscious  of  a 
string  around  his  heart  which  pulled  him  harder  and  harder, 
till  one  Sunday,  when  the  little  Naomi  was  five  years  old, 
he  said  to  his  wife,  — 

"  I  hope  I  a'n't  a-pervertin'  Scriptur'  nor  nuthin',  but  I 


12  THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

can't  help  thinkin'  of  one  passage,  '  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  like  a  merchantman  seeking  goodly  pearls,  and  when  he 
hath  found  one  pearl  of  great  price,  for  joy  thereof  he  goeth 
and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth  that  pearl.'  Well, 
Mary,  I  've  been  and  sold  my  brig  last  week,"  he  said,  fold 
ing  his  daughter's  little  quiet  head  under  his  coat,  "  'cause 
it  seems  to  me  the  Lord 's  given  us  this  pearl  of  great  price, 
and  it 's  enough  for  us.  I  don't  want  to  be  rambling  round 
the  world  after  riches.  "We'll  have  a  little  farm  down  on 
Orr's  Island,  and  I  '11  have  a  little  fishing-smack,  and  we'll 
live  and  be  happy  together." 

And  so  Mary,  who  in  those  days  was  a  pretty  young 
married  woman,  felt  herself  rich  and  happy,  —  no  duchess 
richer  or  happier.  The  two  contentedly  delved  and  toiled, 
and  the  little  Naomi  was  their  princess.  The  wise  men  of 
the  East  at  the  feet  of  an  infant,  offering  gifts,  gold,  frank 
incense,  and  myrrh,  is  just  a  parable  of  what  goes  on  in 
every  house  where  there  is  a  young  child.  All  the  hard 
and  the  harsh,  and  the  common  and  the  disagreeable,  is 
for  the  parents,  —  all  the  bright  and  beautiful  for  their 
child. 

When  the  fishing-smack  went  to  Portland  to  sell  mack 
erel,  there  came  home  in  Zephaniah's  fishy  coat-pocket 
strings  of  coral  beads,  tiny  gaiter  boots,  brilliant  silks 
and  ribbons  for  the  little  fairy  princess,  —  his  Pearl  of 
the  Island;  and  sometimes,  when  a  stray  party  from  the 
neighboring  town  of  Brunswick  came  down  to  explore 
the  romantic  scenery  of  the  solitary  island,  they  would  be 
startled  by  the  apparition  of  this  still,  graceful,  dark-eyed 
child,  exquisitely  dressed  in  the  best  and  brightest  that  the 
shops  of  a  neighboring  city  could  afford,  —  sitting  like  some 
tropical  bird  on  a  lonely  rock,  where  the  sea  came  dashing 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND.  13 

up  into  the  edges  of  arbor  vitae,  or  tripping  along  the  wet 
sands  for  shells  and  sea-weed. 

Many  children  would  have  been  spoiled  by  such  unlimited 
indulgence  ;  but  thefe  are  natures  sent  down  into  this  harsh 
world  so  timorous,  and  sensitive,  and  helpless  in  themselves, 
that  the  utmost  stretch  of  indulgence  and  kindness  is  needed 
for  their  development,  —  like  plants  which  the  warmest  shelf 
of  the  green-house  and  the  most  careful  watch  of  the  gardener 
alone  can  bring  into  flower. 

The  pale  child,  with  her  large,  lustrous,  dark  eyes,  and 
sensitive  organization,  was  nursed  and  brooded  into  a  beauti 
ful  womanhood,  and  then  found  a  protector  in  a  high-spirited, 
manly  young  ship-master,  and  she  became  his  wife. 

And  now  we  see  in  the  best  room  —  the  walls  lined  with 
serious  faces  —  men,  women,  and  children,  that  have  come 
to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  sympathy  to  the  living  and  the 
dead. 

The  house  looked  so  utterly  alone  and  solitary  in  that 
wild,  sea-girt  island,  that  one  would  have  as  soon  expected 
the  sea-waves  to  rise  and  walk  in,  as  so  many  neighbors ;  but 
they  had  come  from  neighboring  points,  crossing  the  glassy 
sea  in  their  little  crafts,  whose  white  sails  looked  like  millers' 
wings,  or  walking  miles  from  distant  parts  of  the  island. 

Some  writer  calls  a  funeral  one  of  the  amusements  of  a 
New  England  population.  Must  we  call  it  an  amusement 
to  go  and  see  the  acted  despair  of  Medea  ?  or  the  dying 
agonies  of  poor  Adrienne  Lecouvreur  ?  It  is  something  of 
the  same  awful  interest  in  life's  tragedy,  which  makes  an 
untaught  and  primitive  people  gather  to  a  funeral,  —  a 
tragedy  where  there  is  no  acting,  —  and  one  which  each 
one  feels  must  come  at  some  time  to  his  own  dwelling. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  here  was  a  roomful.     Not  only  Aunt 


14  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

Roxy^and  Aunt  Ruey,  who  by  a  prescriptive  right  presided 
over  all  the  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  of  the  neighbor 
hood,  but  there  was  Captain  Kittridge,  a  long,  dry,  weather- 
beaten  old  sea-captain,  who  sat  as  if  tied  in  a  double  bow- 
knot,  with  his  little  fussy  old  wife,  with  a  great  Leghorn 
bonnet,  and  eyes  like  black  glass  beads  shining  through 
the  bows  o  sr  horn  spectacles,  and  her  hymn-book  in  her 
hand  ready  to  lead  the  psalm.  There  were  aunts,  uncles, 
cousins,  and  brethren  of  the  deceased  ;  and  in  the  midst 
stood  two  coffins,  where  the  two  united  in  death  lay  sleep 
ing  tenderly,  as  those  to  whom  rest  is  good.  All  was  still  as 
death,  except  a  chance  whisper  from  some  busy  neighbor,  or 
a  creak  of  an  old  lady's  great  black  fan,  or  the  fizz  of  a  fly 
down  the  window-pane,  and  then  a  stifle^  sound  of  deep- 
drawn  breath  and  weeping  from  under  a  cloud  of  heavy 
black  crape  veils,  that  were  together  in  the  group  which 
country-people  call,  the  mourners. 

A  gleam  of  autumn  sunlight  streamed  through  the  white 
curtains,  and  fell  on  a  silver  baptismal  vase  that  stood  on 
the  mother's  coffin,  as  the  minister  rose  and  said,  "  The 
ordinance  of  baptism  will  now  be  administered."  A  few 
moments  more,  and  on  a  baby  brow  had  fallen  a  few  drops 
of  water,  and  the  little  pilgrim  of  a  new  life  had  been  called 
Mara  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  — 
the  minister  slowly  repeating  thereafter  those  beautiful  words 
of  Holy  Writ,  "  A  father  of  the  fatherless  is  God  in  his  holy 
habitation,"  —  as  if  the  baptism  of  that  bereaved  one  had 
been  a  solemn  adoption  into  the  infinite  heart  of  the 
Lord. 

With  something  of  the  quaint  pathos  which  distinguishes 
the  primitive  and  Biblical  people  of  that  lonely  shore,  the 
minister  read  the  passage  in  Ruth  from  which  the  name  of 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          15 

the  little  stranger  was  drawn,  and  which  describes  the  return 
of  the  bereaved  Naomi  to  her  native  land.  His  voice  trem 
bled,  and  there  were  tears  in  many  eyes  as  he  read,  "  And 
it  came  to  pass  as  she  carre  to  Bethlehem,  all  the  city  was 
moved  about  them  ;  and  they  said,  Is  this  Naomi  ?  And 
she  said  unto  them,  Call  me  not  Naomi ;  call  me  Mara ;  for 
the  Almighty  hath  dealt  very  bitterly  with  me.  went  out 
full,  and  the  Lord  hath  brought  me  home  again  empty:  why 
then  call  ye  me  Naomi,  seeing  the  Lord  hath  testified  against 
me,  and  the  Almighty  hath  afflicted  me  ?  " 

Deep,  heavy  sobs  from  the  mourners  were  for  a  few  mo 
ments  the  only  answer  to  these  sad  words,  till  the  minister 
raised  the  old  funeral  psalm  of  New  England,  — 

"  Why  cfo  we  mourn  departing  friends, 

Or  shake  at  Death's  alarms? 
'Tis  but  the  voice  that  Jesus  sends 

To  call  them  to  his  arms. 
Are  we  not  tending  upward  too, 

As  fast  as  time  can  move? 
And  should  we  wish  the  hours  more  slow 

That  bear  us  to  our  love?  " 

The  words  rose  in  old  "  China,"  —  that  strange,  wild 
warble,  whose  quaintly  blended  harmonies  might  have  been 
learned  of  moaning  seas  or  wailing  winds,  so  strange  and 
grand  they  rose,  full  of  that  intense  pathos  which  rises  over 
every  defect  of  execution  ;  and  as  they  sung,  Zephaniah 
Fennel  straightened  his  tall  form,  before  bowed  on  his  hands, 
and  looked  heavenward,  his  cheeks  wet  with  tears,  but  some 
thing  sublime  and  immortal  shining  upward  through  his  blue 
eyes  ;  and  at  the  last  verse  he  came  forward  involuntarily, 
and  stood  by  his  dead,  and  his  voice  rose  over  all  the  others 
as  he  sung,  — 


16          THE  PEARL  OF  OKR'S  ISLAND. 

"  Then  let  the  last  loud  trumpet  sound, 

And  bid  the  dead  arise! 
Awake,  ye  nations  under  ground! 
Ye  saints,  ascend  the  skies!  " 

The  sunbeam  through  the  window-curtain  fell  on  his  silver 
hair,  and  they  that  looked  beheld  his  face  as  it  were  the  face 
of  an  angel ;  he  had  gotten  a  sight  of  the  city  whose  founda 
tion  is  jasper,  and  whose  every  gate  is  a  separate  pearl. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  17 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  sea  lay  like  an  unbroken  mirror  all  around  the  pine- 
girt,  lonely  shores  of  Orr's  Island.  Tall,  kingly  spruces 
wore  their  regal  crowns  of  cones  high  in  air,  sparkling 
with  diamonds  of  clear  exuded  gum ;  vast  old  hemlocks  of 
primeval  growth  stood  darkling  in  their,  forest  shadows, 
their  branches  hung  with  long  hoary  moss ;  while  feathery 
larches,  turned  to  brilliant  gold  by  autumn  frosts,  lighted  up 
the  darker  shadows  of  the  evergreens.  It  was  one  of  those 
hazy,  calm,  dissolving  days  of  Indian  summer,  when  every 
thing  is  so  quiet  that  the  faintest  kiss  of  the  wave  on  the 
beach  can  be  heard,  and  white  clouds  seem  to  faint  into  the 
blue  of  the  sky,  and  soft  swathing  bands  of  violet  vapor 
make  all  earth  look  dreamy,  and  give  to  the  sharp,  clear- 
cut  outlines  of  the  northern  landscape  all  those  mysteries 
of  light  and  shade  which  impart  such  tenderness  to  Italian 
scenery. 

The  funeral  was  over,  —  the  tread  of  many  feet,  bearing 
the  heavy  burden  of  two  broken  lives,  had  been  to  the  lonely 
graveyard,  and  had  come  back  again,  —  each  footstep  lighter 
and  more  unconstrained  as  each  one  went  his  way  from  the 
great  old  tragedy  of  Death  to  the  common  cheerful  walks  of 
Life. 

The  solemn  black  clock  stood  swaying  with  its  eternal 
"  tick-tock,  tick-tock,"  in  the  kitchen  of  the  brown  house  on 
Orr's  Island.  There  was  there  that  sense  of  a  stillness  that 


18          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

can  be  felt,  —  such  as  settles  down  on  a  dwelling  when  any 
of  its  inmates  have  passed  through  its  doors  for  the  last 
time,  to  go  whence  they  shall  not  return.  The  best  room 
was  shut  up  and  darkened,  with  only  so  much  light  as  could 
fall  through  a  little  heart-shaped  hole  in  the  window-shutter, 
—  for  except  on  solemn  visits,  or  prayer-meetings,  or  wed 
dings,  or  funerals,  that  room  formed  no  part  of  the  daily 
family  scenery. 

The  kitchen  was  clean  and  ample,  with  a  great  open  fire 
place  and  wide  stone  hearth,  and  oven  on  one  side,  and  rows 
of  old-fashioned  splint-bottomed  chairs  against  the  wall.  A 
table  scoured  to  snowy  whiteness,  and  a  little  work-stand 
whereon  lay  the  Bible,  the  Missionary  Herald,  and  the 
Weekly  Christian  Mirror,  before  named,  formed  the  prin 
cipal  furniture.  One  feature,  however,  must  not  be  for 
gotten,  —  a  great  sea-chest,  which  had  been  the  companion 
of  Zephaniah  through  all  the  countries  of  the  earth.  Old, 
and  battered,  and  unsightly  it  looked,  yet  report  said  that 
there  was  good  store  within  of  that  which  men  for  the  most 
part  respect  more  than  anything  else ;  and,  indeed,  it  proved 
often  when  a  deed  of  grace  was  to  be  done,  —  when  a  woman 
was  suddenly  made  a  widow  in  a  coast  gale,  or  a  fishing- 
smack  was  run  down  in  the  fogs  off  the  banks,  leaving  in 
some  neighboring  cottage  a  family  of  orphans,  —  in  all  such 
cases,  the  opening  of  this  sea-chest  was  an  event  of  good 
omen  to  the  bereaved  ;  for  Zephaniah  had  a  large  heart  and 
a  large  hand,  and  was  apt  to  take  it  out  full  of  silver  dollars 
when  once  it  went  in.  So  the  ark  of  the  covenant  could  not 
have  been  looked  on  with  more  reverence  than  the  neighbors 
usually  showed  to  Captain  Fennel's  sea-chest. 

The  afternoon  sun  is  shining  in  a  square  of  light  through 
the  open  kitchen-door,  whence  one  dreamily  disposed  might 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  19 

look  far  out  to  sea,  and  behold  ships  coming  and  going  in 
every  variety  of  shape  and  size. 

But  Aunt  Roxy  and  Aunt  Ruey,  who  for  the  present 
were  sole  occupants  of  the  premises,  were  not  people  of  the 
dreamy  kind,  and  consequently  were  not  gazing  off  to  sea, 
but  attending  to  very  terrestrial  matters  that  in  all  cases 
somebody  must  attend  to.  The  afternoon  was  warm  and 
balmy,  but  a  few  smouldering  sticks  were  kept  in  the  great 
chimney,  and  thrust  deep  into  the  embers  was  a  mongrel 
species  of  snub-nosed  tea-pot,  which  fumed  strongly  of  cat 
nip-tea,  a  little  of  which  gracious  beverage  Miss  Roxy 
was  preparing  in  an  old-fashioned  cracked  India  china 
tea-cup,  tasting  it  as  she  did  so  with  the  air  of  a  connois 
seur. 

Apparently  this  was  for  the  benefit  of  a  small  something 
in  long  white  clothes,  that  lay  face  downward  under  a  little 
blanket  of  very  blue  new  flannel,  and  which  something  Aunt 
Roxy,  when  not  otherwise  engaged,  constantly  patted  with  a 
gentle  tattoo,  in  tune  to  the  steady  trot  of  her  knee. 

All  babies  knew  Miss  Roxy's  tattoo  on  their  backs,  and 
never  thought  of  taking  it  in  ill  part.  On  the  contrary,  it 
had  a  vital  and  mesmeric  effect  of  sovereign  force  against 
colic,  and  all  other  disturbers  of  the  nursery  ;  and  never 
was  infant  known  so  pressed  with  those  internal  troubles 
which  infants  cry  about,  as  not  speedily  to  give  over  and 
sink  to  slumber  at  this  soothing  appliance. 

At  a  little  distance  sat  Aunt  Ruey,  with  a  quantity  of 
black  crape  strewed  on  two  chairs  about  her,  very  busily 
employed  in  getting  up  a  mourning-bonnet,  at  which  she 
snipped,  and  clipped,  aud  worked,  zealously  singing,  in  a 
high  cracked  voice,  from  time  to  time,  certain  verses  of  a 
funeral  psalm. 


20          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


: 


Miss  Roxy  and  Miss  Ruey  Toothacre  were  two  brisk  o 
bodies  of  the  feminine  gender  and  singular  number,  w 
known  in  all  the  region  of  Harpswell  Neck  and  Middle 
Bay,  and  such  was  their  fame  that  it  had  even  reached  the 
town  of  Brunswick,  eighteen  miles  away. 

They  were  of  that  class  of  females  who  might  be  denomi 
nated,  in  the  Old  Testament  language,  "  cunning  women,"  — 
that  is,  gifted  with  an  infinite  diversity  of  practical  "  faculty," 
which  made  them  an  essential  requisite  in  every  family  for 
miles  and  miles  around. 

It  was  impossible  to  say  what  they  could  not  do:  they 
could  make  dresses,  and  make  shirts  and  vests  and  panta 
loons,  and  cut  out  boys'  jackets,  and  braid  straw,  and  bleach 
and  trim  bonnets,  and  cook  and  wash,  and  iron  and  mend, 
could  upholster  and  quilt,  could  nurse  all  kinds  of  sick 
nesses,  and  in  default  of  a  doctor,  who  was  often  miles  away, 
were  supposed  to  be  infallible  medical  oracles. 

Many  a  human  being  had  been  ushered  into  life  under 
their  auspices,  —  trotted,  chirruped  in  babyhood  on  their 
knees,  clothed  by  their  handiwork  in  garments  gradually 
enlarging  from  year  to  year,  watched  by  them  in  the  last 
sickness,  and  finally  arrayed  for  the  long  repose  by  their 
hands. 

These  universally  useful  persons  receive  among  us  the 
title  of  "aunt"  by  a  sort  of  general  consent,  showing  the 
strong  ties  of  relationship  which  bind  them  to  the  whole 
human  family.  They  are  nobody's  aunts  in  particular,  but 
aunts  to  human  nature  generally.  J  The  idea  of  restricting 
their  usefulness  to  any  one  family,  would  strike  dismay 
through  a  whole  community. 

Nobody  would  be  so  unprincipled  as  to  think  of  such  a 
thing  as  having  their  services  more  than  a  week  or  two  at 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  21 

most.     Your  country  factotum  knows  better  than  anybody 
else  how  absurd  it  would  be 

"To  give  to  a  part  what  was  meant  for  mankind." 

Nobody  knew  very  well  the  ages  of  these  useful  sisters. 
In  that  cold,  clear,  severe  climate  of  the  North  the  roots  of 
human  existence  are  hard  to  strike  ;  but,  if  once  people  do 
take  to  living,  they  come  in  time  to  a  place  where  they  seem 
never  to  grow  any  older,  but  can  always  be  found,  like  last 
year's  mullein  stalks,  upright,  dry,  and  seedy,  warranted  to 
last  for  any  length  of  time. 

Miss  Roxy  Toothacre,  who  sits  trotting  the  baby,  is  a  tall, 
thin,  angular  woman,  with  sharp  black  eyes,  and  hair  once 
black,  but  now  well  streaked  with  gray.  These  ravages  of 
time,  however,  were  concealed  by  an  ample  mohair  frisette 
of  glossy  blackness  woven  on  each  side  into  a  heap  of  stiff 
little  curls,  which  pushed  up  her  cap  border  in  rather  a 
bristling  and  decisive  way. 

In  all  her  movements  and  personal  habits,  even  to  her 
tone  of  voice  and  manner  of  speaking,  Miss  Roxy  was  vig- 
orou?,  spicy,  and  decided.  Her  mind  on  all  subjects  was 
made  up,  and  she  spoke  generally  as  one  having  authority  ; 
and  who  should,  if  she  should  not?  Was  she  not  a  sort  of 
priestess  and  sibyl  in  all  the  most  awful  straits  and  mysteries 
of  life  ?  How  many  births,  and  weddings,  and  deaths  had 
come  and  gone  under  her  jurisdiction  ?  And  amid  weeping 
or  rejoicing,  was  not  Miss  Roxy  still  the  master-spirit,  — 
consulted,  referred  to  by  all  ?  —  was  not  her  word  law  and 
precedent  ?  Her  younger  sister,  Miss  Ruey,  a  pliant,  cosey, 
easy-to-be-entreated  personage,  plump  and  cushiony,  revolved 
around  her  as  a  humble  satellite.  Miss  Roxy  looked  on 
Miss  Ruey  as  quite  a  frisky  young  thing,  though  under  her 


22          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

ample  frisette  of  carroty  hair  her  head  might  be  seen  white 
with  the  same  snow  that  had  powdered  that  of  her  sister. 
Aunt  Ruey  had  a  face  much  resembling  the  kind  of  one  you 
may  see,  reader,  by  looking  at  yourself  in  the  convex  side  of 
a  silver  milk-pitcher.  If  you  try  the  experiment,  this  'de 
scription  will  need  no  further  amplification. 

The  two  almost  always  went  together,  for  the  variety  of 
talent  comprised  in  their  stock  could  always  find  employ 
ment  in  the  varying  wants  of  a  family.  While  one  nursed 
the  sick,  the  other  made  clothes  for  the  well ;  and  thus  they 
were  always  chippering  and  chatting  to  each  other,  like  a 
pair  of  antiquated  house-sparrows,  retailing  over  harmless 
gossips,  and  moralizing  in  that  gentle  jog-trot  which  befits 
serious  old  women.  In  fact,  they  had  talked  over  every 
thing  in  Nature,  and  said  everything  they  could  think  of  to 
each  other  so  often,  that  the  opinions  of  one  were  as  like 
those  of  the  other  as  two  sides  of  a  pea-pod.  But  as  often 
happens  in  cases  of  the  sort,  this  was  not  because  the  two 
were  in  all  respects  exactly  alike,  but  because  the  stronger 
one  had  mesmerized  the  weaker  into  consent. 

Miss  Roxy  was  the  master-spirit  of  the  two,  and,  like  the 
great  coining  machine  of  a  mint,  came  down  with  her  own 
sharp,  heavy  stamp  on  every  opinion  her  sister  put  out. 
She  was  matter-of-fact,  positive,  and  declarative  to  the  high 
est  degree,  while  her  sister  was  naturally  inclined  to  the 
elegiac  and  the  pathetic,  indulging  herself  in  sentimental 
poetry,  and  keeping  a  store  thereof  in  her  thread-case, 
which  she  had  cut  from  the  Christian  Mirror.  Miss  Roxy 
sometimes,  in  her  brusque  way,  popped  out  observations  on 
life  and  things,  with  a  droll,  hard  quaintness  that  took  one's 
breath  a  little,  yet  never  failed  to  have  a  sharp  crystalliza 
tion  of  truth,  —  frosty  though  it  were.  She  was  one  of  those 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          23 

sensible,  practical  creatures  who  tear  every  veil,  and  lay 
their  fingers  on  every  spot  in  pure  business-like  good-will ; 
and  if  we  shiver  at  them  at  times,  as  at  the  first  plunge  of 
a  cold  bath,  we  confess  to  an  invigorating  power  in  them 
after  all.. 

"  Well,  now,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  giving  a  decisive  push  to 
the  tea-pot,  which  buried  it  yet  deeper  in  the  embers,  "  a'n't 
it  all  a  strange  kind  o'  providence  that  this  'ere  little  thing 
is  left  behind  so ;  and  then  their  callin'  on  her  by  such  a 
strange,  mournful  kind  of  name,  —  Mara.  I  thought  sure 
as  could  be  't  was  Mary,  till  the  minister  read  the  passage 
from  Scriptur'.  Seems  to  me  it 's  kind  o'  odd.  I  'd  call  it 
Maria,  or  I  'd  put  an  Ann  on  to  it.  Mara-ann,  now,  would  n't 
sound  so  strange." 

"  It 's  a  Scriptur'  name,  sister,"  said  Aunt  Ruey,  "  and  that 
ought  to  be  enough  for  us." 

"  Well,  I  don't  know,"  said  Aunt  Roxy.  "  Now  there 
was  Miss  Jones  down  on  Mure  P'int  called  her  twins 
Tiglath-Pileser  and  Shalmaneser,  —  Scriptur'  names  both, 
but  I  never  liked  'em.  The  boys  used  to  call  'em  Tiggy 
and  Shally,  so  no  mortal  could  guess  they  was  Scriptur'." 

"  Well,"  said  Aunt  Ruey,  drawing  a  sigh  which  caused 
her  plump  proportions  to  be  agitated  in  gentle  waves, 
*"  't  a'n't  much  matter,  after  all,  what  they  call  the  little 
thing,  for  't  a'n't  'tall  likely  it 's  goin'  to  live,  —  cried  and 
worried  all  night,  and  kep'  a-suckin'  my  cheek  and  my 
night-gown,  poor  little  thing  !  This  'ere  's  a  baby  that  won't 
get  along  without  its  mother.  What  Mis'  Fennel 's  a-goin' 
to  do  with  it  when  we  is  gone,  I  'm  sure  I  don't  know.  It 
comes  kind  o'  hard  on  old  people  to  be  broke  o'  their  rest. 
If  it 's  goin'  to  be  called  home,  it 's  a  pity,  as  I  said,  it  did  n't 
go  with  its  mother  " 


24          THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

\  "And  save  the  expense  of  another  funeral,"  said  Aunt 
Roxy.  "Now  when  Mis'  Fennel's  sister  asked  her  what 
she  was  going  to  do  with  Naomi's  clothes,  I  could  n't  help 
wonderin'  when  she  said  she  should  keep  'em  for  the 
child." 

-  "  She  had  a  sight  of  things,  Naomi  did,"  said  Aunt  Ruey. 
"  Nothin'  was  never  too  much  for  her.  I  don't  believe  that 
Cap'n  Pennel  ever  went  to  Bath  or  Portland  without  havin* 
it  in  his  mind  to  bring  Naomi  somethin'." 

"  Yes,  and  she  had  a  faculty  of  puttin'  of  'em  on,"  said 
Miss  Roxy,  with  a  decisive  shake  of  the  head.  "  Naomi 
was  a  still  girl,  but  her  faculty  was  uncommon  ;  and  I  tell 
you,  Ruey,  't  a'n't  everybody  \\esfaculty  as  lies  things." 

"  The  poor  Cap'n,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  he  seemed  greatly 
supported  at  the  funeral,  but  he 's  dreadful  broke  down  since. 
I  went  into  Naomi's  room  this  morning,  and  there  the  old 
man  was  a-sittin'  by  her  bed,  and  he  had  a  pair  of  her  shoes 
in  his  hand,  —  you  know  what  a  leetle  bit  of  a  foot  she  had. 
I  never  saw  nothin'  look  so  kind  o'  solitary  as  that  poor  old 
man  did !  " 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  she  was  a  master-hand  for 
keepin'  things,  Naomi  was ;  her  drawers  is  just  a  sight ; 
she  's  got  all  the  little  presents  and  things  they  ever  give 
her  since  she  was  a  baby,  in  one  drawer.  There  's  a  little 
pair  of  red  shoes  there  that  she  had  when  she  wa/  n't  more  'n 
five  year  old.  You  'member,  Ruey,  the  Cap'n  brought  'm 
over  from  Portland  when  we  was  to  the  house  a-makin'  Mis' 
Pennel's  figured  black  silk  that  he  brought  from  Calcutty. 
You  'member  they  cost  just  five  and  sixpence ;  but,  law  !  the 
Cap'n  he  never  grudged  the  money  when  't  was  for  Naomi. 
And  so  she  's  got  all  her  husband's  keepsakes  and  things, 
just  as  nice  as  when  he  giv'  'em  to  her." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  25 

"It's  real  affectin',"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "I  can't  all  the 
while  help  a-thinkin'  of  the  Psalm,  — 

'So  fades  the  lovely  blooming  flower, — 
Frail,  smiling  solace  of  an  hour; 
So  quick  our  transient  comforts  fly, 
And  pleasure  only  blooms  to  die.'  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Roxy ;  "  and,  Ruey,  I  was  a-thinkin' 
whether  or  no  it  wa'n't  best  to  pack  away  them  things, 
'cause  Naomi  had  n't  fixed  no  baby  drawers,  and  we  seem 
to  want  some." 

"  I  was  kind  o'  hintin'  that  to  Mis'  Fennel  this  morn 
ing,"  said  Ruey,  "  but  she  can't  seem  to  want  to  have  'em 
touched." 

"  Well  we  may  just  as  well  come  to  such  things  first  as 
last,"  said  Aunt  Roxy ;  "  'cause  if  the  Lord  takes  our 
friends,  he  does  take  'em ;  and  we  can't  lose  'em  and 
have  'em  too,  and  we  may  as  well  give  right  up  at  first, 
and  done  with  it,  that  they  are  gone,  and  we  V  got  to  do 
without  'em,  and  not  to  be  hangin'  on  to  keep  things  just 
as  they  was." 

"  So  I  was  a-tellin'  Mis'  Fennel,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  but 
she  '11  come  to  it  by  and  by.  I  wish  the  baby  might  live,  and 
kind  o'  grow  up  into  her  mother's  place." 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  I  wish  it  might,  but  there  'd  be 
a  sight  o'  trouble  fetchin'  on  it  up.  Folks  can  do  pretty  well 
with  children  when  they  're  young  and  spry,  if  they  do  get 
'em  up  nights ;  but  come  to  grandchildren,  it 's  pretty  tough." 

"  I  'm  a-thinkin',  sister,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  taking  off  her 
spectacles  and  rubbing  her  nose  thoughtfully,  "  whether  or 
no  cow's  milk  a'n't  goin'  to  be  too  hearty  for  it,  it 's  such  a 
pindlin'  little  thing.  Now,  Mis'  Badger  she  brought  up  a 
seven-months'  child,  and  she  told  me  she  gave  it  nothin' 


26          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

but  these  'ere  little  seed  cookies,  wet  in  water,  and  it  throve 
nicely,  —  and  the  seed  is  good  for  wind." 

"  Oh,  don't  tell  me  none  of  Mis'  Badger's  stories,"  said 
Miss  Roxy,  "  I  don't  believe  in  'em.  Cows  is  the  Lord's 
ordinances  for  bringing  up  babies  that 's  lost  their  mothers ; 
it  stands  to  reason  they  should  be,  —  and  babies  that  can't 
eat  milk,  why  they  can't  be  fetched  up  ;  but  babies  can 
eat  milk,  and  this  un  will  if  it  lives,  and  if  it  can't  it  won't 
live."  So  saying,  Miss  Roxy  drummed  away  on  the  little 
back  of  the  party  in  question,  authoritatively,  as  if  to  pound 
in  a  wholesome  conviction  at  the  outset. 

"  I  hope,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  holding  up  a  strip  of  black 
crape,  and  looking  through  it  from  end  to  end  so  as  to  test 
its  capabilities,  "  I  hope  the  Cap'n  and  Mis'  Pennel  '11  get 
some  support  at  the  prayer-meetin'  this  afternoon." 

"  It 's  the  right  place  to  go  to,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  with 
decision. 

"  Mis'  Pennel  said  this  mornin'  that  she  was  just  beat  out 
tryin'  to  submit ;  and  the  more  she  said,  '  Thy  will  be  done/ 
the  more  she  did  n't  seem  to  feel  it." 

"  Them 's  common  feelin's  among  mourners,  Ruey.  These 
'ere  forty  years  that  I  've  been  round  nussin',  and  layin'-out, 
and  tendin'  funerals,  I  've  watched  people's  exercises.  Peo 
ple  's  sometimes  supported  wonderfully  just  at  the  time,  and 
maybe  at  the  funeral ;  but  the  three  or  four  weeks  after,  most 
everybody,  if  they  's  to  say  what  they  feel,  is  unreconciled." 

"  The  Cap'n,  he  don't  say  nothin',"  said  Miss  Ruey. 

"  No,  he  don't,  but  he  looks  it  in  his  eyes,"  said  Miss 
Roxy  ;  "  he  's  one  of  the  kind  o'  mourners  as  takes  it  deep  ; 
that  kind  don't  cry  ;  it 's  a  kind  o'  dry,  deep  pain  ;  them  's 
the  worst  to  get  over  it,  —  sometimes  they  just  says  nothin', 
and  in  about  six  months  they  send  for  you  to  nuss  'em  in 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          27 

consumption  or  somethin'.  Now,  Mis'  Fennel,  she  can  cry 
and  she  can  talk,  —  well,  she  '11  get  over  it ;  but  Tie  won't  get 
no  support  unless  the  Lord  reaches  right  down  and  lifts  him 
up  over  the  world.  I  've  seen  that  happen  sometimes,  and  I 
tell  you,  Ruey,  that  sort  makes  powerful  Christians." 

At  that  moment  the  old  pair  entered  the  door. 

Zephaniah  Fennel  came  and  stood  quietly  by  the  pillow 
where  the  little  form  was  laid,  and  lifted  a  corner  of  the 
blanket.  The  tiny  head  was  turned  to  one  side,  showing 
the  soft,  warm  cheek,  and  the  little  hand  was  holding  tightly 
a  morsel  of  the  flannel  blanket.  He  stood  swallowing  hard 
for  a  few  moments.  At  last  he  said,  with  deep  humility,  to 
the  wise  and  mighty  woman  who  held  her,  "  I  '11  tell  you 
what  it  is,  Miss  Roxy,  I  '11  give  all  there  is  in  iny  old  chest 
yonder  if  you  '11  only  make  her  —  live." 


28  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  V. 

IT  did  live.  The  little  life,  so  frail,  so  unprofitable  in 
every  mere  material  view,  so  precious  in  the  eyes  of  love, 
expanded  and  flowered  at  last  into  fair  childhood.  Not 
without  much  watching  and  weariness.  Many  a  night  the 
old  fisherman  walked  the  floor  with  the  little  thing  in  his 
arms,  talking  to  it  that  jargon  of  tender  nonsense  which 
fairies  bring  as  love-gifts  to  all  who  tend  a  cradle.  Many 
a  day  the  good  little  old  grandmother  called  the  aid  of 
gossips  about  her,  trying  various  experiments  of  catnip, 
and  sweet  fern,  and  bayberry,  and  other  teas  of  rustic 
reputation  for  baby  frailties. 

At  the  end  of  three  years,  the  two  graves  in  the  lonely 
graveyard  were  sodded  and  cemented  down  by  smooth  vel 
vet  turf,  and  playing  round  the  door  of  the  brown  house  was 
a  slender  child,  with  ways  and  manners  so  still  and  singular 
as  often  to  remind  the  neighbors  that  she  was  not  like  other 
children,  —  a  bud  of  hope  and  joy,  —  but  the  outcome  of  a 
great  sorrow,  —  a  pearl  washed  ashore  by  a  mighty,  uproot 
ing  tempest.  They  that  looked  at  her  remembered  that  her 
father's  eye  had  never  beheld  her,  and  her  baptismal  cup 
had  rested  on  her  mother's  coffin. 

She  was  small  of  stature,  beyond  the  wont  of  children  of 
her  age,  and  moulded  with  a  fine  waxen  delicacy  that  won 
admiration  from  all  eyes.  Her  hair  was  curly  and  golden, 
but  her  eyes  were  dark  like  her  mother's,  and  the  lids 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  29 

drooped  over  them  in  that  manner  which  gives  a  peculiar  \ 
expression  of  dreamy  wistfulness. 

Every  one  of  us  must  remember  eyes  that  have  a  strange, 
peculiar  expression  of  pathos  and  desire,  as  if  the  spirit 
that  looked  out  of  them  were  pressed  with  vague  remem 
brances  of  a  past,  or  but  dimly  comprehended  the  mystery  of 
its  present  life.  Even  when  the  baby  lay  in  its  cradle,  and 
its  dark,  inquiring  eyes  would  follow  now  one  object  and 
now  another,  the  gossips  would  say  the  child  was  longing  for 
something,  and  Miss  Roxy  would  still  further  venture  to 
predict  that  that  child  always  would  long  and  never  would 
know  exactly  what  she  was  after. 

That  dignitary  sits  at  this  minute  enthroned  in  the  kitchen 
corner,  looking  majestically  over  the  press-board  on  her 
knee,  where  she  is  pressing  the  next  year's  Sunday  vest  of 
Zephaniah  Fennel.  As  she  makes  her  heavy  tailor's  goose 
squeak  on  the  work,  her  eyes  follow  the  little  delicate  fairy 
form  which  trips  about  the  kitchen,  busily  and  silently  ar 
ranging  a  little  grotto  of  gold  and  silver  shells  and  sea-weed. 
The  child  sings  to  herself  as  she  works  in  a  low  chant,  like 
the  prattle  of  a  brook,  but  ever  and  anon  she  rests  her  little 
arms  on  a  chair  and  looks  through  the  open  kitchen-door 
far,  far  off  where  the  horizon  line  of  the  blue  sea  dissolves  in 
the  blue  sky. 

"  See  that  child  now,  Roxy,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  who  sat 
stitching  beside  her ;  "  do  look  at  her  eyes.  She  's  as  hand 
some  as  a  pictur',  but  't  a'n't  an  ordinary  look  she  has 
neither ;  she  seems  a  contented  little  thing ;  but  what  makes 
her  eyes  always  look  so  kind  o'  wishful  ?  " 

"  Wa'  n't  her  mother  always  a-longin'  and  a-lookin'  to  sea, 
and  watchin'  the  ships,  afore  she  was  born  ? "  said  Miss 
Roxy ;  "  and  did  n't  her  heart  break  afore  she  was  born  ? 


30  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Babies  like  that  is  marked  always.     They  don't  know  what 

ails  'em,  nor  nobody/' 

/'     "  It 's  her  mother  she  's  after  ?  "  said  Miss  Ruey. 

"  The  Lord  only  knows,"  said  Miss  Roxy  ;  "but  them 
kind  o'  children  always  seem  homesick  to  go  back  where 
they  come  from.  They  're  mostly  grave  and  old-fashioned 
like  this  'un.  If  they  gets  past  seven  years,  why  they  live ; 
but  it 's  always  in  'em  to  long  ;  they  don't  seem  to  be  really 
unhappy  neither,  but  if  anything 's  ever  the  matter  with 
'em,  it  seems  a  great  deal  easier  for  'em  to  die  than  to  live. 
Some  say  it 's  the  mothers  longin'  after  'em  makes  'em  feel 
so,  and  some  say  it 's  them  longin'  after  their  mothers  ;  but 
dear  knows,  Ruey,  what  anything  is  or  what  makes  any 
thing.  Children  's  mysterious,  that 's  my  mind." 

"  Mara,  dear,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  interrupting  the  child's 
steady  look-out,  "what  you  thinking  of?" 

"  Me  want  somefin',"  said  the  little  one. 

"  That 's  what  she 's  always  sayin',"  said  Miss  Roxy. 

"  Me  want  somebody  to  pay  wis',"  continued  the  little  one. 

"  Want  somebody  to  play  with,"  said  old  Dame  Fennel, 
as  she  came  in  from  the  back-room  with  her  hands  yet 
floury  with  kneading  bread ;  "  sure  enough,  she  does.  Our 
house  stands  in  such  a  lonesome  place,  and  there  a'n't  any 
children.  But  I  never  saw  such  a  quiet  little  thing  — 
always  still  and  always  busy." 

"  I  '11  take  her  down  with  me  to  Cap'n  Kittridge's,"  said 
Miss  Roxy,  "  and  let  her  play  with  their  little  girl ;  she  '11 
chirk  her  up,  I'll  warrant.  She's  a  regular  little  witch, 
Sally  is,  but  she  '11  chirk  her  up.  It  a'n't  good  for  children 
to  be  so  still  and  old-fashioned ;  children  ought  to  be  chil 
dren.  Sally  takes  to  Mara  just  'cause  she  's  so  different." 

"  Well,  now,  you  may,"  said  Dame  Fennel ;  "  to  be  sure, 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.          31 

he  can't  bear  her  out  of  his  sight  a  minute  after  he  comes 
in  ;  but  after  all,  old  folks  can't  be  company  for  children." 

Accordingly,  that  afternoon,  the  little  Mara  was  arrayed 
in  a  little  blue  flounced  dress,  which  stood  out  like  a  balloon, 
made  by  Miss  Roxy  in  first-rate  style,  from  a  French  fashion- 
plate  ;  her  golden  hair  was  twined  in  manifold  curls  by 
Dame  Fennel,  who,  restricted  in  her  ideas  of  ornamenta 
tion,  spared,  nevertheless,  neither  time  nor  money  to  en 
hance  the  charms  of  this  single  ornament  to  her  dwelling. 
Mara  was  her  picture-gallery,  who  gave  her  in  the  twenty- 
four  hours  as  many  Murillos  or  Greuzes  as  a  lover  of  art 
could  desire ;  and  as  she  tied  over  the  child's  golden  curls  a 
little  flat  hat,  and  saw  her  go  dancing  off  along  the  sea- 
sands,  holding  to  Miss  Roxy's  bony  finger,  she  felt  she  had 
in  her  what  galleries  of  pictures  could  not  buy. 

It  was  a  good  mile  to  the  one  story,  gambrel-roofed  cot 
tage  where  lived  Captain  Kittridge,  —  the  long,  lean,  brown 
man,  with  his  good  wife  of  the  great  Leghorn  bonnet,  round, 
black  bead  eyes,  and  psalm-book,  whom  we  told  you  of  at 
the  funeral. 

The  Captain,  too,  had  followed  the  sea  in  his  early  life, 
but  being  not,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  very  rugged,"  in  time 
changed  his  ship  for  a  tight  little  cottage  on  the  sea-shore, 
and  devoted  himself  to  boat-building,  which  he  found  suffi 
ciently  lucrative  to  furnish  his  brown  cottage  with  all  that 
his  wife's  heart  desired,  besides  extra  money  for  knick-knacks 
when  she  chose  to  go  up  to  Brunswick  or  over  to  Portland 
to  shop. 

The  Captain  himself  was  a  welcome  guest  at  all  the  fire 
sides  round,  being  a  chatty  body,  and  disposed  to  make  the 
most  of  his  foreign  experiences,  in  which  he  took  the  usual 
advantages  of  a  traveller.  In  fact,  it  was  said,  whether 


32  THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

slanderously  or  not,  that  the  Captain's  yarns  were  spun  to 
order ;  and  as,  when  pressed  to  relate  his  foreign  adventures, 
he  always  responded  with,  "  What  would  you  like  to  hear  ?  " 
it  was  thought  that  he  fabricated  his  article  to  suit  his  mar 
ket.  In  short,  there  was  no  species  of  experience,  finny, 
fishy,  or  aquatic,  —  no  legend  of  strange  and  unaccountable 
incident  of  fire  or  flood,  —  no  romance  of  foreign  scenery 
and  productions,  to  which  his  tongue  was  not  competent, 
when  he  had  once  seated  himself  in  a  double  bow-knot  at 
a  neighbor's  evening  fireside. 

His  good  wife,  a  sharp-eyed,  literal  body,  and  a  vigorous 
church-member,  felt  some  concern  of  conscience  on  the  score 
of  these  narrations ;  for,  being  their  constant  auditor,  she, 
better  than  any  one  else,  could  perceive  the  variations  and 
discrepancies  of  text  which  showed  their  mythical  character, 
and  oftentimes  her  black  eyes  would  snap  and  her  knitting- 
needles  rattle  with  an  admonitory  vigor  as  he  went  on,  and 
sometimes  she  would  unmercifully  come  in  at  the  end  of  a 
narrative  with,  — 

"  Well,  now,  the  Cap'n  's  told  them  ar  stories  till  he  begins 
to  b'lieve  'em  himself,  I  think." 

But  works  of  fiction,  as  we  all  know,  if  only  well  gotten 
up,  have  always  their  advantages  in  the  hearts  of  listeners 
over  plain,  homely  truth  ;  and  so  Captain  Kittridge's  yarns 
were  marketable  fireside  commodities  still,  despite  the  scepti 
cisms  which  attended  them. 

The  afternoon  sunbeams  at  this  moment  are  painting  the 
gambrel-roof  with  a  golden  brown.  It  is  September  again, 
as  it  was  three  years  ago  when  our  story  commenced,  and 
the  sea  and  sky  are  purple  and  amethystine  with  its  Italian 
haziness  of  atmosphere. 

The  brown  house  stands  on  a  little  knoll,  about  a  hundred 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  33 

yards  from  the  open  ocean.  Behind  it  rises  a  ledge  of  rocks, 
where  cedars  and  hemlocks  make  deep  shadows  into  which 
the  sun  shoots  golden  shafts  of  light,  illuminating  the  scarlet 
feathers  of  the  sumach,  which  threw  themselves  jauntily 
forth  from  the  crevices  ;  while  down  below,  in  deep,  damp, 
mossy  recesses,  rose  ferns  which  autumn  had  just  begun  to 
tinge  with  yellow  and  brown.  The  little  knoll  where  the 
cottage  stood,  had  on  its  right  hand  a  tiny  bay,  where  the 
ocean  water  made  up  amid  picturesque  rocks  —  shaggy 
and  solemn.  Here  trees  of  the  primeval  forest,  grand  and 
lordly,  looked  down  silently  into  the  waters  which  ebbed 
and  flowed  daily  into  this  little  pool.  Every  variety  of 
those  beautiful  evergreens  which  feather  the  coast  of 
Maine,  and  dip  their  wings  in  the  very  spray  of  its  ocean 
foam,  found  here  a  representative.  There  were  aspiring 
black  spruces,  crowned  on  the  very  top  with  heavy  coronets 
of  cones  ;  there  were  balsamic  firs,  whose  young  «buds 
breathe  the  scent  of  strawberries ;  there  were  cedars,  black 
as  midnight  clouds,  and  white  pines  with  their  swaying 
plumage  of  needle-like  leaves,  strewing  the  ground  beneath 
with  a  golden,  fragrant  matting ;  and  there  were  the  gigan 
tic,  wide-winded  hemlocks,  hundreds  of  years  old,  and  with 
long,  swaying,  gray  beards  of  moss,  looking  white  and 
ghostly  under  the  deep  shadows  of  their  boughs.  And 
beneath,  creeping  round  trunk  and  matting  over  stones, 
were  many  and  many  of  those  wild,  beautiful  things  which 
embellish  the  shadows  of  these  northern  forests.  Long, 
feathery  wreaths  of  what  are  called  ground-pines,  ran  here 
and  there  in  little  ruffles  of  green,  and  the  prince's  pine 
raised  its  oriental  feather,  with  a  mimic  cone  on  the  top,  as 
If  it  conceived  itself  to  be  a  grown-up  tree.  Whole  patches 
of  partridge-berry  wove  their  evergreen  matting,  dotted  plen- 
2* 


34          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

tifully  with  brilliant  scarlet  berries.  Here  and  there,  the 
rocks  were  covered  with  a  curiously  inwoven  tapestry  of 
moss,  overshot  with  the  exquisite  vine  of  the  Linnea  bore- 
alis,  which  in  early  spring  rings  its  two  fairy  bells  on  the 
end  of  every  spray ;  while  elsewhere  the  wrinkled  leaves  of 
the  mayflower  wove  themselves  through  and  through  deep 
beds  of  moss,  meditating  silently  thoughts  of  the  thousand 
little  cups  of  pink  shell  which  they  had  it  in  hand  to 
make  when  the  time  of  miracles  should  come  round  next 
spring. 

Nothing,  in  short,  could  be  more  quaintly  fresh,  wild,  and 
beautiful  than  the  surroundings  of  this  little  cove  which 
Captain  Kittridge  had  thought  fit  to  dedicate  to  his  boat 
building  operations,  —  where  he  had  set  up  his  tar-kettle 
between  two  great  rocks  above  the  highest  tide-mark,  and 
where,  at  the  present  moment,  he  had  a  boat  upon  the 
stocks. 

Mrs.  Kittridge,  at  this  hour,  was  sitting  in  her  clean 
kitchen,  very  busily  engaged  in  ripping  up  a  silk  dress, 
which  Miss  Roxy  had  engaged  to  come  and  make  into  a 
new  one  ;  and,  as  she  ripped,  she  cast  now  and  then 
an  eye  at  the  face  of  a  tall,  black  clock,  whose  solemn 
tick-tock  was  the  only  sound  that  could  be  heard  in  the 
kitchen. 

By  her  side,  on  a  low  stool,  sat  a  vigorous,  healthy  girl 
of  six  years,  whose  employment  evidently  did  not  please 
|  her,  for  her  well-marked  black  eyebrows  were  bent  in  a 
frown,  and -her  large  black  eyes  looked  surly  and  wrathful, 
and  one  versed  in  children's  grievances  could  easily  see 
what  the  matter  was,  —  she  was  turning  a  sheet !  Perhaps, 
happy  young  female  reader,  you  don't  know  what  that  is,  — 
most  likely  not ;  for!  in  these  degenerate  days  the  strait  and 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          35 

narrow  ways  of  self-denial,  formerly  thought  so  wholesome 
for  little  feet,  are  quite  grass-grown  with  neglect.  Childhood 
nowadays  is  unceasingly  feted  and  caressed,  the  principal 
difficulty  of  the  grown  people  seeming  to  be  to  discover  what 
the  little  dears  want,  —  a  thing  not  always  clear  to  the  little 
dears  themselves.  But  in  old  times,  turning  sheets  was 
thought  a  most  especial  and  wholesome  discipline  for  young 
girls ;  in  the  first  place,  because  it  took  off  the  hands  of 
their  betters  a  very  uninteresting  and  monotonous  labor  ; 
and  in  the  second  place,  because  it  was  such  a  long,  straight, 
unending  turnpike,  that  the  youthful  travellers,  once  started 
thereupon,  could  go  on  indefinitely,  without  requiring  guid 
ance  and  direction  of  their  elders.  For  these  reasons,  also, 
the  task  was  held  in  special  detestation  by  children  in  direct 
proportion  to  their  amount  of  life,  and  their  ingenuity  and 
love  of  variety.  A  dull  child  took  it  tolerably  well ;  but  to 
a  lively,  energetic  one,  it  was  a  perfect  torture. 

"  I  don't  see  the  use  of  sewing  up  sheets  one  side,  and 
ripping  up  the  other,"  at  last  said  Sally,  breaking  the  mo 
notonous  tick-tock  of  the  clock  by  an  observation  which 
has  probably  occurred  to  every  child  in  similar  circum 
stances. 

"  Sally  Kittridge,  if  you  say  another  word  about  that  ar 
sheet,  I  '11  whip  you,"  was  the  very  explicit  rejoinder ;  and 
there  was  a  snap  of  Mrs.  Kittridge's  black  eyes,  that  seemed 
to  make  it  likely  that  she  would  keep  her  word.  It  was 
answered  by  another  snap  from  the  six-year-old  eyes,  as 
Sally  comforted  herself  with  thinking  that  when  she  was  a 
woman  she  'd  speak  her  mind  out  in  pay  for  all  this. 

At  this  moment  a  burst  of  silvery  child-laughter  rang 
out,  and  there  appeared  in  the  door-way,  illuminated  by  the 
afternoon  sunbeams,  the  vision  of  Miss  Roxy's  tall,  lank 


36  THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

figure,  with  the  little  golden-haired,  blue-robed  fairy,  hang 
ing  like  a  gay  butterfly  upon  the  tip  of  a  thorn-bush.  Sally 
dropped  the  sheet  and  clapped  her  hands,  unnoticed  by 
her  mother,  who  rose  to  pay  her  respects  to  the  "  cunning 
woman  "  of  the  neighborhood. 

u  Well,  now,  Miss  Roxy,  I  was  'mazin'  afraid  you  wer'n't 
a-comin'.  I  'd  just  been  an'  got  my  silk  ripped  up,  and 
did  n't  know  how  to  get  a  step  farther  without  you." 

"  Well,  I  was  finishin'  up  Cap'n  Fennel's  best  panta 
loons,"  said  Miss  Roxy  ;  "  and  I  've  got  'em  along  so,  Ruey 
can  go  on  with  'em  ;  and  I  told  Mis'  Pennel  I  must  come 
to  you,  if  't  was  only  for  a  day  ;  and  I  fetched  the  little  girl 
down,  'cause  the  little  thing  's  so  kind  o'  lonesome  like.  I 
thought  Sally  could  play  with  her,  and  chirk  her  up  a 
little." 

"  Well,  Sally,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  stick  in  your  needle, 
fold  up  your  sheet,  put  your  thimble  in  your  work-pocket, 
and  then  you  may  take  the  little  Mara  down  to  the  cove  to 
play  ;  but  be  sure  you  don't  let  her  go  near  the  tar,  nor  wet 
her  shoes.  D'ye  hear  ?  " 

"  Yes,  ma'am,"  said  Sally,  who  had  sprung  up  in  light  and 
radiance,  like  a  translated  creature,  at  this  unexpected  turn 
of  fortune,  and  performed  the  welcome  orders  with  a  celerity 
which  showed  how  agreeable  they  were ;  and  then,  stooping 
and  catching  the  little  one  in  her  arms,  disappeared  through 
the  door,  with  the  golden  curls  fluttering  over  her  own  crow- 
black  hair. 

The  fact  was,  that  Sally,  at  that  moment,  was  as  happy  as 
human  creature  could  be,  with  a  keenness  of  happiness  that 
children  who  have  never  been  made  to  turn  sheets  of  a  bright 
afternoon  can  never  realize. 

The  sun  was  yet  an  hour  high,  as  she  saw,  by  the  flash  of 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  37 

her  shrewd,  time-keeping  eye,  and  she  could  bear  her  little 
prize  down  to  the  cove,  and  collect  unknown  quantities  of 
gold  and  silver  shells,  and  star-fish,  and  salad-dish  shells, 
and  white  pebbles  for  her,  besides  quantities  of  well-turned 
shavings,  brown  and  white,  from  the  pile  which  constantly 
was  falling  under  her  father's  joiner's  bench,  and  with  which 
she  would  make  long  extemporaneous  tresses,  so  that  they 
might  play  at  being  mermaids,  like  those  that  she  had  heard 
her  father  tell  about  in  some  of  his  sea-stories. 

"  Now,  railly,  Sally,  what  you  got  there  ?  "  said  Captain 
Kittridge,  as  he  stood  in  his  shirt-sleeves  peering  over  his 
joiner's  bench,  to  watch  the  little  one  whom  Sally  had 
dumped  down  into  a  nest  of  clean  white  shavings.  "  Wai', 
wal',  I  should  think  you  'd  a-stolen  the  big  doll  I  see  in  a 
shop-window  the  last  time  I  was  to  Portland.  So  this  is 
Fennel's  little  girl  ?  —  poor  child  !  " 

"  Yes,  father,  and  we  want  some  nice  shavings." 

"  Stay  a  bit,  I  '11  make  yea  few  a-purpose,"  said  the  old 
man,  reaching  his  long,  bony  arm,  with  the  greatest  ease,  to 
the  farther  part  of  his  bench,  and  bringing  up  a  board,  from 
which  he  proceeded  to  roll  off  shavings  in  fine  satin  rings, 
which  perfectly  delighted  the  hearts  of  the  children,  and 
made  them  dance  with  glee;  and,  truth  to  say,  reader, 
there  are  coarser  and  homelier  things  in  the  world  than 
a  well-turned  shaving. 

"  There,  go  now,"  he  said,  when  both  of  them  stood  with 
both  hands  full ;  "  go  now  and  play ;  and  mind  you  don't  let 
the  baby  wet  her  feet,  Sally ;  them  shoes  o'  hern  must  have 
cost  five-and-sixpence  at  the  very  least." 

That  sunny  hour  before  sundown  seemed  as  long  to  Sally 
as  the  whole  seam  of  the  sheet ;  for  childhopd's  joys  are  all 
pure  gold ;  and  as  she  ran  up  and  down  the  white  sands, 


38          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

shouting  at  every  shell  she  found,  or  darted  up  into  the 
overhanging  forest  for  checkerberries  and  ground-pine,  all 
the  sorrows  of  the  morning  came  no  more  into  her  remem 
brance. 

/  The  little  Mara  had  one  of  those  sensitive,  excitable  na 
tures,  on  which  every  external  influence  acts  with  immediate 
power.  Stimulated  by  the  society  of  her  energetic,  buoyant 
little  neighbor,  she  no  longer  seemed  wishful  or  pensive,  but 
kindled  into  a  perfect  flame  of  wild  delight,  and  gambolled 
about  the  shore  like  a  blue  and  gold-winged  fly ;  while  her 
bursts  of  laughter  made  the  squirrels  and  blue  jays  look 
out  inquisitively  from  their  fastnesses  in  the  old  evergreens^ 
Gradually  the  sunbeams  faded  from  the  pines,  and  the  waves 
of  the  tide  in  the  little  cove  came  in,  solemnly  tinted  with 
purple,  flaked  with  orange  and  crimson,  borne  in  from  a 
great  rippling  sea  of  fire,  into  which  the  sun  had  just 
sunk. 

"  Mercy  on  us  —  them  children  !  "  said  Miss  Roxy. 

"  He  's  bringin'  'em  along,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  as  she 
looked  out  of  the  window  and  saw  the  tall,  lank  form  of  the 
Captain,  with  one  child  seated  on  either  shoulder,  and  hold 
ing  on  by  his  head. 

The  two  children  were  both  in  the  highest  state  of  excite 
ment,  but  never  was  there  a  more  marked  contrast  of  nature. 
The  one  seemed  a  perfect  type  of  well-developed  childish 
health  and  vigor,  good  solid  flesh  and  bones,  with  glowing 
skin,  brilliant  eyes,  shining  teeth,  well-knit,  supple  limbs,  — 
vigorously  and  healthily  beautiful ;  while  the  other  appeared 
one  of  those  aerial  mixtures  of  cloud  and  fire,  whose  radiance 
seems  scarcely  earthly.  A  physiologist,  looking  at  the  child, 
would  shake  his  head,  seeing  one  of  those  perilous  organiza 
tions,  all  nerve  and  brain,  which  come  to  life  under  the  clear, 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  39 

stimulating  skies  of  America,  and,  burning  with  the  intensity 
of  lighted  phosphorus,  waste  themselves  too  early. 

The  little  Mara  seemed  like  a  fairy  sprite,  possessed  with 
a  wild  spirit  of  glee.  She  laughed  and  clapped  her  hands 
incessantly,  and  when  set  down  on  the  kitchen-floor  spun 
round  like  a  little  elf;  and  that  night  it  was  late  and  long 
before  her  wide,  wakeful  eyes  could  be  veiled  in  sleep. 

"  Company  jist  sets  this  'ere  child  crazy,"  said  Miss 
Roxy ;  "  it 's  jist  her  lonely  way  of  livin' ;  a  pity  Mis' 
Fennel  hadn't  another  child  to  keep  company  along  with 
her." 

"  Mis'  Fennel  oughter  be  trainin'  of  her  up  to  work,"  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge.  "  Sally  could  oversew  and  hem  when  she 
wa'  n't  more  'n  three  years  old  ;  nothin'  straightens  out  chil 
dren  like  work.  Mis'  Fennel  she  jist  keeps  that  ar  child  to 
look  at." 

"All  children  a'n't  alike,  Mis'  Kittridge,"  said  Miss 
Roxy,  sententiously.  "  This  'un  a'n't  like  your  Sally.  '  A 
hen  and  a  bumble-bee  can't  be  fetched  up  alike,  fix  it  how 
you  will ! '  " 


40  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

ZEPHANIAH  FENNEL  came  back  to  his  house  in  the  even 
ing,  after  Miss  Roxy  had  taken  the  little  Mara  away.  He 
looked  for  the  flowery  face  and  golden  hair  as  he  came 
towards  the  door,  and  put  his  hand  in  his  vest-pocket,  where 
he  had  deposited  a  small  store  of  very  choice  shells  and  sea 
curiosities,  thinking  of  the  widening  of  those  dark,  soft  eyes 
when  he  should  present  them. 

"  Where  's  Mara  ?  "  was  the  first  inquiry  after  he  had 
crossed  the  threshold. 

«  Why,  Roxy 's  been  an'  taken  her  down  to  Cap'n  Kit- 
tridge's  to  spend  the  night,"  said  Miss  Ruey.  "  Roxy 's 
gone  to  help  Mis'  Kittridge  to  turn  her  spotted  gray  and 
black  silk.  We  was  talking  this  mornin'  whether  'no  't  would 
turn,  'cause  /  thought  the  spot  was  overshot,  and  would  n't 
make  up  on  the  wrong  side  ;  but  Roxy  she  says  it 's  one  of 
them  ar  Calcutty  silks  that  has  two  sides  to  'em,  like  the 
one  you  bought  Miss  Fennel,  that  we  made  up  for  her,  you 
know ;  "  and  Miss  Ruey  arose  and  gave  a  finishing  snap  to 
the  Sunday  pantaloons,  which  she  had  been  left  to  "  finish 
off,"  —  which  snap  said,  as  plainly  as  words  could  say  that 
there  was  a  good  job  disposed  of. 

Zephaniah  stood  looking  as  helpless  as  animals  of  the 
male  kind  generally  do  when  appealed  to  with  such  pro 
lixity  on  feminine  details ;  in  reply  to  it  all,  only  asked, 
meekly,  — 

«  Where 's  Mary  ? " 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  41 

"  Mis'  Fennel  ?  Why,  she's  up  chamber.  She  '11  be  down 
in  a  minute,  she  said ;  she  thought  she  'd  have  time  afore 
supper  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  the  big  chist,  and  see  if  that 
'ere  vest  pattern  a'n't  there,  and  them  sticks  o'  twist  for  the 
button-holes,  'cause  Roxy  she  says  she  never  see  nothin'  so 
rotten  as  that  'ere  twist  we  V  been  a-workin'  with,  that  Mis' 
Fennel  got  over  to  Portland  ;  it 's  a  clear  cheat,  and  Mis' 
Fennel  she  give  more  'n  half  a  cent  a  stick  more  for  't  than 
what  Roxy  got  for  her  up  to  Brunswick ;  so  you  see  these 
'ere  Portland  stores  charge  up,  and  their  things  want  lookin' 
after." 

Here  Mrs.  Fennel  entered  the  room,  "  the  Captain " 
addressing  her  eagerly,  — 

"  How  came  you  to  let  Aunt  Roxy  take  Mara  off  so  far, 
and  be  gone  so  long  ?  " 

"  Why,  law  me,  Captain  Fennel !  the  little  thing  seems 
kind  o'  lonesome.  Chil'en  want  chil'en ;  Miss  Roxy  says 
she  's  altogether  too  sort  o'  still  and  old-fashioned,  and  must 
have  child's  company  to  chirk  her  up,  and  so  she  took  her 
down  to  play  with  Sally  Kittridge ;  there  's  no  manner  of 
danger  or  harm  in  it,  and  she  '11  be  back  to-morrow  after 
noon,  and  Mara  will  have  a  real  good  time." 

"  Wai',  now,  really,"  said  the  good  man,  "  but  it 's  'mazin' 
lonesome." 

"  Cap'n  Fennel,  you  Y  gettin'  to  make  an  idol  of  that  'ere 
child,"  said  Miss  Ruey.  "We  have  to  watch  our  hearts. 
It  minds  me  of  the  hymn,  — 

4  The  fondness  of  a  creature's  love, 

How  strong  it  strikes  the  sense,  — 
Thither  the  warm  affections  move, 
Nor  can  we  call  them  thence.'  " 

Miss  Ruey's  mode  of  getting  off  poetry,  in  a  sort  of  high- 


42  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

pitched  canter,  with  a  strong  thump  on  every  accented  sylla 
ble,  might  have  provoked  a  smile  in  more  sophisticated 
society,  but  Zephaniah  listened  to  her  with  deep  gravity, 
and  answered,  — 

"I'm  'fraid  there's  truth  in  what  you  say,  Aunt  Ruey. 
When  her  mother  was  called  away,  I  thought  that  was  a 
warning  I  never  should  forget ;  but  now  I  seem  to  be  like 
Jonah,  —  I  'm  restin'  in  the  shadow  of  my  gourd,  and  my 
heart  is  glad  because  of  it.  I  kind  o'  trembled  at  the 
prayer-meetin'  when  we  was  a-singin'  — 

'  The  dearest  idol  I  have  known, 

Whate'er  that  idol  be, 
Help  me  to  tear  it  from  Thy  throne, 
And  worship  only  1  hee.'  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  Roxy  says  if  the  Lord  should 
take  us  up  short  on  our  prmyers,  it  would  make  sad  work 
with  us  sometimes." 

"  Somehow,"  said  Mrs.  Pennel,  "  it  seems  to  me  just  her 
mother  over  again.  She  don't  look  like  her.  I  think  her 
hair  and  complexion  comes  from  the  Badger  blood ;  my 
mother  had  that  sort  o'  hair  and  skin,  —  but  then  she  has 
ways  like  Naomi,  —  and  it  seems  as  if  the  Lord  had  kind  o' 
given  Naomi  back  to  us  ;  so  I  hope  she  's  goin  to  be  spared 
to  us." 

Mrs.  Pennel  had  one  of  those  natures  —  gentle,  trustful, 
and  hopeful,  because  not  very  deep ;  she  was  one  of  the 
little  children  of  the  world  whose  faith  rests  on  childlike 
ignorance,  and  who  know  not  the  deeper  needs  of  deeper 
natures ;  such  see  only  the  sunshine  and  forget  the  storm. 

This  conversation  had  been  going  on  to  the  accompani 
ment  of  a  clatter  of  plates  and  spoons  and  dishes,  and  the 
fizzling  of  sausages,  prefacing  the  evening  meal,  to  which 


THE  PEARL   OF  OKR'S   ISLAND.  43 

all  now  sat  down  after  a  lengthened  grace  from  Zepha- 
niah. 

"  There 's  a  tremendous  gale  a-brewin',"  he  said  as  they 
sat  at  table.  "  I  noticed  the  clouds  to-night  as  I  was  comin* 
home,  and  somehow  I  felt  kind  o'  as  if  I  wanted  all  our 
folks  snug  in-doors." 

"  Why  law,  husband,  Cap'n  Kittridge's  house  is  as  good 
as  ours,  if  it  does  blow.  You  never  can  seem  to  remember 
that  houses  don't  run  aground  or  strike  on  rocks  in  storms." 

"  The  Cap'n  puts  me  in  mind  of  old  Cap'n  Jeduth  Scran- 
ton,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  that  built  that  queer  house  down  by 
Middle  Bay.  The  Cap'n  he  would  insist  on  havin'  on't  jist 
like  a  ship,  and  the  closet-shelves  had  holes  for  the  tumblers 
and  dishes,  and  he  had  all  his  tables  and  chairs  battened 
down,  and  so  when  it  came  a  gale,  they  say  the  old  Cap'n 
used  to  sit  in  his  chair  and  hold  on  to  hear  the  wind  blow." 

"  Well,  I  tell  you,"  said  Captain  Fennel,  "  those  that  has 
followed  the  seas  hears  the  wind  with  different  ears  from 
lands-people.  When  you  lie  with  only  a  plank  between  you 
and  eternity,  and  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord  on  the  waters, 
it  don't  sound  as  it  does  on  shore." 

And  in  truth,  as  they  were  speaking,  a  fitful  gust  swept 
by  the  house,  wailing  and  screaming  and  rattling  the  win 
dows,  and  after  it  came  the  heavy,  hollow  moan  of  the  surf 
on  the  beach,  like  the  wild,  angry  howl  of  some  savage  ani 
mal  just  beginning  to  be  lashed  into  fury. 

"  Sure  enough  the  wind  is  rising,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  getting 
up  from  the  table,  and  flattening  her  snub  nose  against  the 
window-pane.  "  Dear  me,  how  dark  it  is !  Mercy  on  us, 
how  the  waves  come  in!  —  all  of  a  sheet  of  foam.  I  pity 
the  ships  that 's  comin'  on  coast  such  a  night." 

The  storm  seemed  to  have  burst  out  with  a  sudden  fury, 


44  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

as  if  myriads  of  howling  demons  had  all  at  once  been  loos 
ened  in  the  air.  Now  they  piped  and  whistled  with  eldritch 
screech  round  the  corners  of  the  house  —  now  they  thun 
dered  down  the  chimney  —  and  now  they  shook  the  door 
and  rattled  the  casement  —  and  anon  mustering  their  forces 
with  wild  ado,  seemed  to  career  over  the  house,  and  sail 
high  up  into  the  murky  air.  The  dash  of  the  rising  tide 
caine  with  successive  crash  upon  crash  like  the  discharge  of 
heavy  artillery,  seeming  to. shake  the  very  house,  and  the 
spray  borne  by  the  wind  dashed  whizzing  against  the  win 
dow-panes. 

Zephaniah,  rising  from  supper,  drew  up  the  little  stand 
that  had  the  family  Bible  on  it,  and  the  three  old  time-worn 
people  sat  themselves  as  seriously  down  to  evening  worship 
as  if  they  had  been  an  extensive  congregation.  They  raised 
the  old  psalm-tune  which  our  fathers  called  "  Complaint," 
and  the  cracked,  wavering  voices  of  the  women,  with  the 
deep,  rough  bass  of  the  old  sea-captain,  rose  in  the  uproar 
of  the  storm  with  a  ghostly,  strange  wildness,  like  the 
scream  of  the  curlew  or  the  wailing  of  the  wind  :  — 

"  Spare  us,  0  Lord,  aloud  we  pray, 

Nor  let  our  sun  go  down  at  noon: 
Thy  years  are  an  eternal  day, 
And  must  thy  children  die  so  soon  ?  " 

Miss  Ruey  valued  herself  on  singing  a  certain  weird  and 
exalted  part  which  in  ancient  days  used  to  be  called  counter, 
and  which  wailed  and  gyrated  in  unimaginable  heights  of 
the  scale,  much  as  you  may  hear  a  shrill,  fine-voiced  wind 
over  a  chimney-top  ;  but  altogether,  the  deep  and  earnest 
gravity  with  which  the  three  filled  up  the  pauses  in  the 
storm  with  their  quaint  minor  key,  had  something  singularly 
impressive.  When  the  singing  was  over,  Zephaniah  read, 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S  ISLAND.  45 

to  the  accompaniment  of  wind  and  sea,  the  words  of  poetry 
made  on  old  Hebrew  shores,  in  the  dim,  gray  dawn  of  the 
world :  — 

"  The  voice  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  waters ;  the  God  of 
glory  thundereth;  the  Lord  is  upon  many  waters.  The 
voice  of  the  Lord  shaketh  the  wilderness ;  the  Lord  shaketh 
the  wilderness  of  Kadesh.  The  Lord  sitteth  upon  the  floods, 
yea,  the  Lord  sitteth  King  forever.  The  Lord  will  give 
strength  to  his  people ;  yea,  the  Lord  will  bless  his  people 
with  peace." 

How  natural  and  home-born  sounded  this  old  piece  of 
Oriental  poetry  in  the  ears  of  the  three  !  The  wilderness  of 
Kadesh,  with  its  great  cedars,  was  doubtless  Orr's  Island, 
where  even  now  the  goodly  fellowship  of  black-winged  trees 
were  groaning  and  swaying,  and  creaking  as  the  breath  of 
the  Lord  passed  over  them. 

And  the  three  old  people  kneeling  by  their  smouldering 
fireside,  amid  the  general  uproar,  Zephaniah  began  in  the 
words  of  a  prayer  which  Moses  the  man  of  God  made  long 
ago  under  the  shadows  of  Egyptian  pyramids :  "  Lord,  thou 
hast  been  our  dwelling-place  in  all  generations.  Before  the 
mountains  were  brought  forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed 
the  earth  and  the  world,  even  from  everlasting  to  everlast 
ing,  thou  art  God." 

We  hear  sometimes  in  these  days  that  the  Bible  is  no 
more  inspired  of  God  than  many  other  books  of  historic  and 
poetic  merit.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  the  Bible  answers 
a  strange  and  wholly  exceptional  purpose  by  thousands  of 
firesides  on  all  shores  of  the  earth ;  and,  till  some  other  book 
can  be  found  to  do  the  same  thing,  it  will  not  be  surprising 
if  a  belief  of  its  Divine  origin  be  one  of  the  ineffaceable  ideas 
of  the  popular  mind. 


46          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

It  will  be  a  long  while  before  a  translation  from  Homer, 
or  a  chapter  in  the  Koran,  or  any  of  the  beauties  of  Shak- 
speare,  will  be  read  in  a  stormy  night  on  Orr's  Island  with 
the  same  sense  of  a  Divine  presence  as  the  Psalms  of  David, 
or  the  prayer  of  Moses  the  man  of  God. 

Boom  !  boom  !  "  What 's  that  ?  "  said  Zephaniah,  start 
ing,  'as  they  rose  up  from  prayer.  "  Hark  !  again,  that 's  a 
gun,  —  there's  a  ship  in  distress." 

"  Poor  souls,"  said  Miss  Ruey ;  "  it 's  an  awful  night ! " 

The  captain  began  to  put  on  his  sea-coat. 

"  You  a'n't  a-goin'  out  ?  "  said  his  wife. 

"  I  must  go  out  along  the  beach  a  spell,  and  see  if  I  can 
hear  any  more  of  that  ship." 

"  Mercy  on  us ;  the  wind  '11  blow  you  over  !  "  said  Aunt 
Ruey. 

"  I  rayther  think  I  've  stood  wind  before  in  my  day,"  said 
Zephaniah,  a  grim  smile  stealing  over  his  weather-beaten 
cheeks.  'In  fact,  the  man  felt  a  sort  of  secret  relationship 
to  the  storm,  as  if  it  were  in  some  manner  a  family  connec 
tion  —  a  wild,  roystering  cousin,  who  drew  him  out  by  a 
rough  attraction  of  comradeship. 

"  Well,  at  any  rate,"  said  Mrs.  Pennel,  producing  a  large 
tin  lantern  perforated  with  many  holes,  in  which  she  placed 
a  tallow  candle,  "take  this  with  you,  and  don't  stay  out 
long." 

The  kitchen-door  opened,  and  the  first  gust  of  wind  took 
off  the  old  man's  hat  and  nearly  blew  him  prostrate.  He 
came  back  and  shut  the  door.  "  I  ought  to  have  known  bet 
ter,"  he  said,  knotting  his  pocket-handkerchief  over  his  head, 
after  which  he  waited  for  a  momentary  lull,  and  went  out 
into  the  storm. 

Miss  Ruey  looked  through  the  window-pane,  and  saw  the 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  47 

light  go  twinkling  far  down  into  the  gloom,  and  ever  and 
anon  came  the  mournful  boom  of  distant  guns. 

"  Certainly  there  is  a  ship  in  trouble  somewhere,"  she 
said. 

"  He  never  can  be  easy  when  he  hears  these  guns,"  said. 
Mrs.  Fennel ;  "  but  what  can  he  do,  or  anybody,  in  such  a 
storrn,  the  wind  blowing  right  on  to  shore  ?  " 

"  I  should  n't  wonder  if  Cap'n  Kittridge  should  be  out  on 
the  beach,  too,"  said  Miss  Ruey ;  "  but  laws,  he  a'n't  much 
more  than  one  of  these  'ere  old  grasshoppers  you  see  after 
frost  comes.  Well,  any  way,  there  a'n't  much  help  in  man 
if  a  ship  comes  ashore  in  such  a  gale  as  this,  such  a  dark 
night  too." 

"  It 's  kind  o'  lonesome  to  have  poor  little  Mara  away 
such  a  night  as  this  is,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel ;  "  but  who 
would  a-thought  it  this  afternoon,  when  Aunt  Roxy  took 
her?" 

"  I  'member  my  grandmother  had  a  silver  cream-pitcher 
that  come  ashore  in  a  storm  on  Mare  F'int,"  said  Miss  Ruey, 
as  she  sat  trotting  her  knitting-needles.  "  Grand'ther  found 
it,  half  full  of  sand,  under  a  knot  of  sea-weed  way  up  on 
the  beach.  It  had  a  coat  of  arms  on  it,  —  might  have  be 
longed  to  some  grand  family,  that  pitcher ;  in  the  Toothacre 
family  yet." 

"  I  remember  when  I  was  a  girl,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel, 
"  seeing  the  hull  of  a  ship  that  went  on  Eagle  Island  — 
it  run  way  up  in  a  sort  of  gully  between  two  rocks,  and 
lay  there  years.  They  split  pieces  off  it  sometimes  to  make 
fires  when  they  wanted  to  make  a  chowder  down  on  the 
beach." 

"  My  aunt,  Lois  Toothacre,  that  lives  down  by  Middle 
Bay,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  used  to  tell  about  a  dreadful  blow 


48  THE   PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

they  had  once  in  time  of  the  equinoctial  storm,  —  and 
what  was  remarkable,  she  insisted  that  she  heard  a  baby 
cryin'  out  in  the  storrn  —  she  heard  it  just  as  plain  as 
could  be." 

"  Laws  a-mercy,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel,  nervously,  "  it  was 
nothing  but  the  wind,  —  it  always  screeches  like  a  child 
crying ;  or  maybe  it  was  the  seals ;  seals  will  cry  just  like 
babes." 

"  So  they  told  her,  — •  but  no  ;  she  insisted  she  knew  the 
difference,  —  it  was  a  baby.  Well,  what  do  you  think,  when 
the  storm  cleared  off,  they  found  a  baby's  cradle  washed 
ashore  sure  enough  !  " 

"  But  they  did  n't  find  any  baby,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel, 
nervously. 

"  No,  they  searched  the  beach  far  and  near,  and  that 
cradle  was  all  they  found.  Aunt  Lois  took  it  in  —  it  was 
;  a  very  good  cradle,  and  she  took  it  to  use,  but  every  time 
there  came  up  a  gale,  that  ar  cradle  would  rock,  rock,  jist  as 
if  somebody  was  a-sittin'  by  it ;  and  you  could  stand  across 
the  room  and  see  there  wa'  n't  nobody  there." 

"  You  make  me  all  of  a  shiver,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel. 

This,  of  course,  was  just  what  Miss  Ruey  intended,  and 
she  went  on  :  — 

"  Wai',  you  see  they  kind  o'  got  used  to  it  —  they  found 
there  wa'  n't  no  harm  come  of  its  rockin',  and  so  they  did  n't 
mind ;  but  Aunt  Lois  had  a  sister  Cerinthy  that  was  'a 
weakly  girl,  and  had  the  janders.  Cerinthy  was  one  of 
!  the  sort  that  's  born  with  veils  over  their  faces,  and  can  see 
sperits ;  and  one  time  Cerinthy  was  a-visitin'  Lois  after  her 
second  baby  was  born,  and  there  came  up  a  blow,  and  Cerin 
thy  comes  out  of  the  keepin'-room,  where  the  cradle  was 
a-standin',  and  says,  '  Sister,'  says  she,  '  who  's  that  woman 


THE  PEAKL  OF  OKR'S  ISLAND.          49 

sittin'  rockin'  the  cradle  ? '  and  Aunt  Lois  says  she,  '  Why, 
there  a'n't  nobody.  That  ar  cradle  always  will  rock  in  a 
gale,  but  I  've  got  used  to  it,  and  don't  mind  it.'  '  Well/ 
says  Cerinthy,  '  jist  as  true  as  you  live,  I  jist  saw  a  woman 
with  a  silk  gown  on,  and  long  black  hair  a-hangin'  down,  and 
her  face  was  pale  as  a  sheet,  sittin'  rockin'  that  ar  cradle, 
and  she  looked  round  at  me  with  her  great  black  eyes  kind 
o'  mournful  and  wishful,  and  then  she  stooped  down  over  the 
cradle.'  'Well,'  says  Lois,  'I  a'n't  goin'  to  have  no  such 
doin's  in  my  house,'  and  she  went  right  in  and  took  up  the 
baby,  and  the  very  next  day  she  jist  had  the  cradle  split  up 
for  kindlin' ;  and  that  night,  if  you  '11  believe,  when  they 
was  a-burnin'  of  it,  they  heard,  jist  as  plain  as  could  be,  a 
baby  scream,  scream,  screamin'  round  the  house ;  but  after 
that  they  never  heard  it  no  more." 

"  I  don't  like  such  stories,"  said  Dame  Fennel,  "  'specially 
to-night  when  Mara's  away.  I  shall  get  to  hearing  all 
sorts  of  noises  in  the  wind.  I  wonder  when  dap'n  Fennel 
will  be  back." 

And  the  good  woman  put  more  wood  on  the  fire,  and  as 
the  tongues  of  flame  streamed  up  high  and  clear,  she  ap 
proached  her  face  to  the  window-pane  and  started  back  with 
half  a  scream,  as  a  pale,  anxious  visage  with  sad  dark  eyes 
seemed  to  approach  her.  It  took  a  moment  or  two  for  her 
to  discover  that  she  had  seen  only  the  reflection  of  her  own 
anxious,  excited  face,  the  pitchy  blackness  without  having 
converted  the  window  into  a  sort  of  dark  mirror. 

Miss  Ruey  meanwhile  began  solacing  herself  by  singing, 
in    her    chimney-corner,    a   very    favorite    sacred    melody, 
which  contrasted  oddly  enough  with  the  driving  storm  and 
howling,  sea :  — 
3 


50          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Haste,  my  beloved,  haste  away, 
Cut  short  the  hours  of  thy  delay ; 
Fly  like  the  bounding  hart  or  roe, 
Over  the  hills  where  spices  grow." 

The  tune  was  called  "  Invitation  "  —  one  of  those  pro 
fusely  florid  in  runs,  and  trills,  and  quavers,  which  delighted 
the  ears  of  a  former  generation  ;  and  Miss  Ruey,  innocently 
unconscious  of  the  effect  of  old  age  on  her  voice,  ran  them 
up  and  down,  and  out  and  in,  in  a  way  that  would  have 
made  a  laugh,  had  there  been  anybody  there  to  notice  or 
to  laugh. 

"  I  remember  singin'  that  ar  to  Mary  Jane  Wilson  the 
very  night  she  died,"  said  Aunt  Ruey,  stopping.  "  She 
wanted  me  to  sing  to  her,  and  it  was  jist  between  two  and 
three  in  the  mornin' ;  there  was  jist  the  least  red  streak  of 
daylight,  and  I  opened  the  window  and  sat  there  and  sung, 
and  when  I  come  to  '  over  the  hills  where  spices  grow,'  I 
looked  round  and  there  was  a  change  in  Mary  Jane,  and  I 
went  to  the  bed,  and  says  she  very  bright,  '  Aunt  Ruey,  the 
Beloved  has  come,'  and  she  was  gone  afore  I  could  raise  her 
up  on  her  pillow.  I  always  think  of  Mary  Jane  at  them 
words;  if  ever  there  was  a  broken-hearted  crittur  took 
home,  it  was  her." 

At  this  moment  Mrs.  Fennel  caught  sight  through  the 
window  of  the  gleam  of  the  returning  lantern,  and  in  a 
moment  Captain  Fennel  entered  dripping  with  rain  and 
spray. 

"  Why  Cap'n  !  you  're  e'en  a'most  drowned,"  said  Aunt 
Ruey. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  gone  ?  You  must  have  been 
a  great  ways,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel. 

"  Yes,  I  have  been  down  to  Cap'n   Kittridge's.     I  met 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          51 

Kittridge  out  on  the  beach.  We  heard  the  guns  plain 
enough,  but  could  n't  see  anything.  I  went  on  down  to 
Kittridge's  to  get  a  look  at  little  Mara." 

"  Well,  she 's  all  well  enough  ? "  said  Mrs.  Fennel, 
anxiously. 

"  Oh,  yes,  well  enough.  Miss  Roxy  showed  her  to  me  in 
the  trundle-bed,  'long  with  Sally.  The  little  thing  was  lying 
smiling  in  her  sleep,  with  her  cheek  right  up  against  Sally's. 
I  took  comfort  looking  at  her.  I  could  n't  help  thinking, 
1  So  he  giveth  his  beloved  sleep  ! ' " 


V 
52          THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DURING  the  night  and  storm,  the  little  Mara  had  lain 
sleeping  as  quietly  as  if  the  cruel  sea,  that  had  made  her  an 
orphan  from  her  birth,  were  her  kind-tempered  old  grand 
father  singing  her  to  sleep,  as  he  often  did,  —  with  a 
somewhat  hoarse  voice  truly,  but  with  ever  an  undertone 
of  protecting  love. 

But  toward  daybreak,  there  came  very  clear  and  bright 
into  her  childish  mind  a  dream,  having  that  vivid  distinct 
ness  which  often  characterizes  the  dreams  of  early  childhood. 

She  thought  she  saw  before  her  the  little  cove  where  she 
and  Sally  had  been  playing  the  day  before,  with  its  broad 
sparkling  white  beach  of  sand  curving  round  its  blue  sea- 
mirror,  and  studded  thickly  with  gold  and  silver  shells. 
She  saw  the  boat  of  Captain  Kittridge  upon  the  stocks, 
and  his  tar-kettle  with  the  smouldering  fires  flickering  under 
it ;  but,  as  often  happens  in  dreams,  a  certain  rainbow  viv 
idness  and  clearness  invested  everything,  and  she  and 
Sally  were  jumping  for  joy  at  the  beautiful  things  they 
found  on  the  beach. 

Suddenly,  there  stood  before  them  a  woman,  dressed  in  a 
long  white  garment.  She  was  very  pale,  with  sweet,  serious 
dark  eyes,  and  she  led  by  the  hand  a  black-eyed  boy,  who 
seemed  to  be  crying  and  looking  about  as  for  something 
lost.  She  dreamed  that  she  stood  still,  and  the  woman  came 
toward  her,  looking  at  her  with  sweet,  sad  eyes,  till  the 


\ 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.          53 

child  seemed  to  feel  them  in  every  fibre  of  her  frame.  The 
woman  laid  her  hand  on  her  head  as  if  in  blessing,  and  then 
put  the  boy's  hand  in  hers,  and  said,  "  Take  him,  Mara,  he  is 
a  playmate  for  you  : "  and  with  that  the  little  boy's  face  flashed 
out  into  a  merry  laugh.  The  woman  faded  away,  and  the 
three  children  remained  playing  together,  gathering  shells 
and  pebbles  of  a  wonderful  brightness.  So  vivid  was  this 
vision,  that  the  little  one  awoke  laughing  with  pleasure,  and 
searched  under  her  pillows  for  the  strange  and  beautiful 
things  that  she  had  been  gathering  in  dreamland. 

"  What 's  Mara  looking  after  ? "  said  Sally,  sitting  up  in 
her  trundle-bed,  and  speaking  in  the  patronizing  motherly 
tone  she  commonly  used  to  her  little  playmate. 

"  All  gone,  pitty  boy  —  all  gone  ! "  said  the  child,  looking 
round  regretfully,  and  shaking  her  golden  head ;  "  pitty  lady 
all  gone  ! " 

"  How  queer  she  talks  ! "  said  Sally,  who  had  awakened 
with  the  project  of  building  a  sheet-house  with  her  fairy  neigh 
bor,  and  was  beginning  to  loosen  the  upper  sheet  and  dispose 
the  pillows  with  a  view  to  this  species  of  architecture. 

"  Come,  Mara,  let 's  make  a  pretty  house !  "  she  said. 

"  Pitty  boy  out  dere  —  out  dere ! "  said  the  little  one, 
pointing  to  the  window,  with  a  deeper  expression  than  ever 
of  wishfulness  in  her  eyes. 

"  Come,  Sally  Kittridge,  get  up  this  minute ! "  said  the 
voice  of  her  mother,  entering  the  door  at  this  moment ;  "  and 
here,  put  these  clothes  on  to  Mara,  the  child  mustn't  run 
round  in  her  best ;  it 's  strange,  now,  Mary  Fennel  never 
thinks  of  such  things." 

Sally,  who  was  of  an  efficient  temperament,  was  prepar 
ing  energetically  to  second  these  commands  of  her  mother, 
and  endue  her  little  neighbor  with  a  coarse  brown  stuff 


54  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

dress,  somewhat  faded  and  patched,  which  she  herself  had 
outgrown  when  of  Mara's  age  ;  with  shoes,  which  had  been 
coarsely  made  to  begin  with,  and  very  much  battered  by 
time ;  but,  quite  to  her  surprise,  the  child,  generally  so 
passive  and  tractable,  opposed  a  most  unexpected  and  des 
perate  resistance  to  this  operation.  She  began  to  cry  and  to 
sob  and  shake  her  curly  head,  throwing  her  tiny  hands  out 
in  a  wild  species  of  freakish  opposition,  which  had,  notwith 
standing,  a  quaint  and  singular  grace  about  it,  while  she 
stated  her  objections  in  all  the  little  English  at  her  command. 

"  Mara  don't  want  —  Mara  want  pitty  boo  des  —  and 
pitty  shoes." 

"  Why,  was  ever  anything  like  it  ? "  said  Mrs.  Kittridge 
to  Miss  Roxy,  as  they  both  were  drawn  to  the  door  by  the 
outcry ;  "  here  's  this  child  won't  have  decent  every-day 
clothes  put  on  her,  —  she  must  be  kept  dressed  up  like  a 
princess.  Now,  that  ar  's  French  calico !  "  said  Mrs.  Kit 
tridge,  holding  up  the  controverted  blue  dress,  "  and  that  ar 
never  cost  a  cent  under  five-and-sixpence  a  yard ;  it  takes  a 
yard  and  a  half  to  make  it,  and  it  must  have  been  a  good 
day's  work  to  make  it  up ;  call  that  three-and-sixpence  more, 
and  with  them  pearl  buttons  and  thread  and  all,  that  ar  dress 
never  cost  less  than  a  dollar  and  seventy-five,  and  here  she 's 
goin'  to  run  out  every  day  in  it ! " 

"  Well,  well !  "  said  Miss  Roxy,  who  had  taken  the  sob 
bing  fair  one  in  her  lap,  "  you  know,  Mis'  Kittridge,  this 
'ere  's  a  kind  o'  pet  lamb,  an  old-folks'  darling,  and  things  be 
with  her  as  they  be,  and  we  can't  make  her  over,  and  she  's 
such  a  nervous  little  thing  we  must  n't  cross  her."  Saying 
which,  she  proceeded  to  dress  the  child  in  her  own  clothes. 

"  If  you  had  a  good  large  checked  apron,  I  would  n't  mind 
putting  that  on  her ! "  added  Miss  Roxy,  after  she  had  ar 
rayed  the  child. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  55 

"  Here  's  one,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge ;  "  that  may  save  her 
clothes  some." 

Miss  Roxy  began  to  put  on  the  wholesome  garment ;  but, 
rather  to  her  mortification,  the  little  fairy  began  to  weep 
again  in  a  most  heart-broken  manner. 

"  Don't  want  che't  apon." 

"  Why  don't  Mara  want  nice  checked  apron  ?  "  said  Miss 
Roxy,  in  that  extra  cheerful  tone  by  which  children  are  to 
be  made  to  believe  they  have  mistaken  their  own  mind. 

"  Don't  want  it!  "  with  a  decided  wave  of  the  little  hand ; 
"  I 's  too  pitty  to  wear  che't  apon." 

"  Well !  well !  "  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  rolling  up  her  eyes, 
"  did  I  ever !  no,  I  never  did.  If  there  a'n't  depraved  na- 
tur'  a-comin'  out  early.  Well,  if  she  says  she  's  pretty  now, 
wTiiaPIl  it  be  when  she  's  fifteen  ?  " 

"  She  '11  learn  to  tell  a  lie  about  it  by  that  time,"  said 
Miss  Roxy,  "  and  say  she  thinks  she  's  horrid.  The 
child  is  pretty,  and  the  truth  comes  uppermost  with  her 
now." 

"  Haw  !  haw  !  haw  !  "  burst  with  a  great  crash  from  Cap 
tain  Kittridge,  who  had  come  in  behind,  and  stood  silently 
listening  during  this  conversation  ;  "  that 's  musical  now ; 
come  here,  my  little  maid,  you  are  too  pretty  for  checked 
aprons,  and  no  mistake ; "  and  seizing  the  child  in  his  long 
arms,  he  tossed  her  up  like  a  butterfly,  while  her  sunny 
curls  shone  in  the  morning  light. 

"  There 's  one  comfort  about  the  child,  Miss  Kittridge," 
said  Aunt  Roxy ;  "  she  's  one  of  them  that  dirt  won't  stick 
to.  I  never  knew  her  to  stain  or  tear  her  clothes,  —  she 
always  come  in  jist  so  nice." 

"  She  a'n't  much  like  Sally,  then !  "  said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 
"  That  girl  '11  run  through  more  clothes  !  Only  last  week 


56          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

she  walked  the  crown  out  of  my  old  black  straw  bonnet, 
and  left  it  hanging  on  the  top  of  a  blackberry-bush." 

"  Wai',  wal',"  said  Captain  Kittridge,  "  as  to  dressin'  this 
'ere  child,  —  why,  ef  Fennel 's  a  mind  to  dress  her  in  cloth 
of  gold,  it  's  none  of  our  business  !  He 's  rich  enough  for 
all  he  wants  to  do,  and  so  let 's  eat  our  breakfast  and  mind 
our  own  business." 

After  breakfast  Captain  Kittridge  took  the  two  children 
down  to  the  cove,  to  investigate  the  state  of  his  boat  and 
tar-kettle,  set  high  above  the  highest  tide-mark. 

The  sun  had  risen  gloriously,  the  sky  was  of  an  intense, 
vivid  blue,  and  only  great  snowy  islands  of  clouds,  lying  in 
silver  banks  on  the  horizon,  showed  vestiges  of  last  night's 
storm.  The  whole  wide  sea  was  one  glorious  scene  of  form 
ing  and  dissolving  mountains  of  blue  and  purple,  breaking 
at  the  crest  into  brilliant  silver.  All  round  the  island  the 
waves  were  constantly  leaping  and  springing  into  jets  and 
columns  of  brilliant  foam,  throwing  themselves  high  up,  in 
silvery  cataracts,  into  the  very  arms  of  the  solemn  evergreen 
forests  which  overhung  the  shore. 

The  sands  of  the  little  cove  seemed  harder  and  whiter 
than  ever,  and  were  thickly  bestrewn  with  the  shells  and 
sea-weed  which  the  upturnings  of  the  night  had  brought  in. 
There  lay  what  might  have  been  fringes  and  fragments  of 
sea-gods'  vestures,  —  blue,  crimson,  purple,  and  orange  sea 
weeds,  wreathed  in  tangled  ropes  of  kelp  and  sea-grass,  or 
lying  separately  scattered  on  the  sands.  The  children  ran 
wildly,  shouting  as  they  began  gathering  sea-treasures  ;  and 
Sally,  with  the  air  of  an  experienced  hand  in  the  business, 
untwisted  the  coils  of  ropy  sea-weed,  from  which  every 
moment  she  disengaged  some  new  treasure,  in  some  rarer 
shell  or  smoother  pebble. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.          57 

Suddenly,  the  child  shook  out  something  from  a  knotted 
mass  of  sea-grass,  which  she  held  up  with  a  perfect  shriek 
of  delight. 

It  was  a  bracelet  of  hair,  fastened  by  a  brilliant  clasp 
of  green,  sparkling  stones,  such  as  she  had  never  seen  be 
fore. 

She  redoubled  her  cries  of  delight,  as  she  saw  it  sparkle 
between  her  and  the  sun,  calling  upon  her  father. 

"  Father !  father !  do  come  here,  and  see  what  I  Ve 
found ! " 

He  came  quickly,  and  took  the  bracelet  from  the  child's 
hand ;  but,  at  the  same  moment,  looking  over  her  head,  he 
caught  sight  of  an  object  partially  concealed  behind  a  pro 
jecting  rock.  He  took  a  step  forward,  and  uttered  an 
exclamation,  — 

"  Well,  well !  sure  enough  !  poor  things  ! " 

There  lay,  bedded  in  sand  and  sea-weed,  a  woman  with  a 
little  boy  clasped  in  her  arms  !  Both  had  been  carefully 
lashed  to  a  spar,  but  the  child  was  held  to  the  bosom  of  the 
woman,  with  a  pressure  closer  than  any  knot  that  mortal 
hands  could  tie. 

Both  were  deep  sunk  in  the  sand,  into  which  had  streamed 
the  woman's  long,  dark  hair,  which  sparkled  with  glittering 
morsels  of  sand  and  pebbles,  and  with  those  tiny,  brilliant, 
yellow  shells  which  are  so  numerous  on  that  shore. 

The  woman  was  both  young  and  beautiful.  The  fore 
head,  damp  with  ocean-spray,  was  like  sculptured  marble,  — 
the  eyebrows  dark  and  decided  in  their  outline ;  but  the 
long,  heavy,  black  fringes  had  shut  down,  as  a  solemn  cur 
tain,  over  all  this  history  of  mortal  joy  or  sorrow  that  those 
eyes  had  looked  upon.  A  wedding-ring  gleamed  on  the 
marble  hand ;  but  the  sea  had  divorced  all  human  ties,  and 

3* 


58          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

taken  her  as  a  bride  to  itself.  And,  in  truth,  it  seemed  to 
have  made  to  her  a  worthy  bed,  for  she  was  all  folded  and 
inwreathed  in  sand  and  shells  and  sea-weeds,  and  a  great, 
weird-looking  leaf ,  of  kelp,  some  yards  in  length,  lay  twined 
around  her  like  a  shroud. 

The  child  that  lay  in  her  bosom  had  hair,  and  face,  and 
eyelashes  like  her  own,  and  his  little  hands  were  holding 
tightly  a  portion  of  the  black  dress  which  she  wore. 

"  Cold,  —  cold,  —  stone  dead !  "  was  the  muttered  excla 
mation  of  the  old  seaman,  as  he  bent  over  the  woman. 

"  She  must  have  struck  her  head  there,"  he  mused,  as  he 
laid  his  finger  on  a  dark,  bruised  spot  on  her  temple.  He 
laid  his  hand  on  the  child's  heart,  and  put  one  finger  under 
the  arm  to  see  if  there  was  any  lingering  vital  heat,  and  then 
hastily  cut  the  lashings  that  bound  the  pair  to  the  spar,  and 
with  difficulty  disengaged  the  child  from  the  cold  clasp  in 
which  dying  love  had  bound  him  to  a  heart  which  should 
beat  no  more  with  mortal  joy  or  sorrow. 

Sally,  after  the  first  moment,  had  run  screaming  toward 
the  house,  with  all  a  child's  forward  eagerness,  to  be  the 
bearer  of  news  ;  but  the  little  Mara  stood,  looking  anxiously, 
with  a  wishful  earnestness  of  face. 

"  Pitty  boy,  —  pitty  boy,  —  come  !  "  she  said  often  ;  but 
the  old  man  was  so  busy,  he  scarcely  regarded  her. 

"  Now,  Cap'n  Kittridge,  do  tell !  "  said  Miss  Roxy,  meet 
ing  him  in  all  haste,  with  a  cap-border  stiff  in  air,  while 
Dame  Kittridge  exclaimed, — 

"  Now,  you  don't !  Well,  well !  did  n't  I  say  that  was  a 
ship  last  night  ?  And  what  a  solemnizing  thought  it  was, 
that  souls  might  be  goin'  into  eternity !  " 

"  We  must  have  blankets  and  hot  bottles,  right  away  ! " 
paid  Miss  Roxy,  who  always  took  the  earthly  view  of  mat- 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          59 

ters,  and  who  was,  in  her  own  person,  a  personified  humane 
society.  "  Miss  Kittridge,  you  jist  dip  out  your  dishwater 
into  the  smallest  tub,  and  we  '11  put  him  in.  Stand  away, 
Mara!  Sally,  you  take  her  out  of  the  way!  We'll  fetch  ( 
this  child  to,  perhaps.  I  've  fetched  'em  to,  when  they 's 
seemed  to  be  dead  as  door-nails  ! " 

"  Cap'n  Kittridge,  you  're  sure  the  woman 's  dead  ?  " 

"  Laws,  yes ;  she  had  a  blow  right  on  her  temple  here. 
There's  no  bringing  her  to  till  the  resurrection." 

"  Well,  then,  you  jist  go  and  get  Cap'n  Fennel  to  come 
down  and  help  you,  and  get  the  body  into  the  house,  and 
we  '11  attend  to  layin'  it  out  by  and  by.  Tell  Ruey  to  come 
down." 

Aunt  Roxy  issued  her  orders  with  all  the  military  vigor 
and  precision  of  a  general  in  case  of  a  sudden  attack.  It 
was  her  habit.  Sickness  and  death  were  her  opportunities  ; 
where  they  were,  she  felt  herself  at  home,  and  she  addressed 
herself  to  the  task  before  her  with  undoubting  faith. 

Before  many  hours  a  pair  of  large,  dark  eyes  slowly 
emerged  from  under  the  black-fringed  lids  of  the  little 
drowned  boy,  —  they  rolled  dreamily  round  for  a  moment, 
and  dropped  again  in  heavy  languor. 

The  little  Mara  had,  with  the  quiet  persistence  which 
formed  a  trait  in  her  baby  character,  dragged  stools  and 
chairs  to  the  back  of  the  bed,  which  she  at  last  succeeded 
in  scaling,  and  sat  opposite  to  where  the  child  lay,  grave  and 
still,  watching  with  intense  earnestness  the  process  that  was 
going  on. 

At  the  moment  when  the  eyes  had  opened,  she  stretched 
forth  her  little  arms,  and  said,  eagerly,  "  Pitty  boy,  come," 
—  and  then,  as  they  closed  again,  she  dropped  her  hands 
with  a  sigh  of  disappointment.  Yet,  before  night,  the 


60  THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

little  stranger  sat  up  in  bed,  and  laughed  with  pleasure  at 
the  treasures  of  shells  and  pebbles  which  the  children  spread 
out  on  the  bed  before  him. 

t  He  was  a  vigorous,  well-made,  handsome  child,  with  brill 
iant  eyes  and  teeth,  but  the  few  words  that  he  spoke  were 
in  a  language  unknown  to  most  present.  Captain  Kittridge 
declared  it  to  be  Spanish,  and  that  a  call  which  he  most 
passionately  and  often  repeated  was  for  his  mother.  But  lie 
was  of  that  happy  age  when  sorrow  can  be  easily  effaced, 
and  the  efforts  of  the  children  called  forth  joyous  smiles. 
When  his  playthings  did  not  go  to  his  liking,  he  showed 
sparkles  of  a  fiery,  irascible  spirit. 

The  little  Mara  seemed  to  appropriate  him  in  feminine 
fashion,  as  a  chosen  idol  and  graven  image.  She  gave  him 
at  once  all  her  slender  stock  of  infantine  treasures,  and 
seemed  to  watch  with  an  ecstatic  devotion  his  every  move 
ment,  —  often  repeating,  as  she  looked  delightedly  around, 
"  Pitty  boy,  come." 

She  had  no  words  to  explain  the  strange  dream  of  the 
morning  ;  it  lay  in  her,  struggling  for  expression,  and  giving 
her  an  interest  in  the  new-comer  as  in  something  belonging 
to  herself.  Whence  it  came,  —  whence  come  multitudes 
like  it,  which  spring  up  as  strange,  enchanted  flowers,  every 
now  and  then  in  the  dull,  material  pathway  of  life,  —  who 
knows  ? 

It  may  be  that  our  present  faculties  have  among  them  a 
rudimentary  one,  like  the  germs  of  wings  in  the  chrysalis, 
by  which  the  spiritual  world  becomes  sometimes  an  object 
of  perception,  —  there  may  be  natures  in  which  the  walls 
of  the  material  are  so  fine  and  translucent  that  the  spiritual 
is  seen  through  them  as  through  a  glass  darkly.  It  may  be, 
too,  that  the  love  which  is  stronger  than  death  has  a  power 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  61 

sometimes  to  make  itself  heard  and  felt  through  the  walls  of 
our  mortality,  when  it  would  plead  for  the  defenceless  ones 
it  has  left  behind.  All  these  things  may  be,  —  who  knows  ? 

****** 

"  There/'  said  Miss  Roxy,  coming  out  of  the  keeping-room 
at  sunset ;  "  I  would  n't  ask  to  see  a  better-lookin'  corpse. 
That  ar  woman  was  a  sight  to  behold  this  morning.  I  guess 
I  shook  a  double  handful  of  stones  and  them  little  shells  out 
of  her  hair,  —  now  she  reely  looks  beautiful.  Captain  Kit- 
tridge  has  made  a  coffin  out  o'  some  cedar-boards  he  hap 
pened  to  have,  and  I  lined  it  with  bleached  cotton,  and 
stuffed  the  pillow  nice  and  full,  and  when  we  come  to  get 
her  in,  she  reely  will  look  lovely." 

"  I  s'pose,  Mis'  Kittridge,  you  '11  have  the  funeral  to 
morrow,  —  it 's  Sunday." 

"  Why,  yes,  Aunt  Roxy,  —  I  think  everybody  must  want 
to  improve  such  a  dispensation.  Have  you  took  little  Mara 
in  to  look  at  the  corpse  ?  " 

"Well,  no,"  said  Miss  Roxy;  "Mis'  Fennel's  gettin' 
ready  to  take  her  home." 

"  I  think  it 's  an  opportunity  we  ought  to  improve,"  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  to  learn  children  what  death  is.  I  think 
we  can't  begin  to  solemnize  their  minds  too  young." 

At  this  moment  Sally  and  the  little  Mara  entered  the 
room. 

"  Come  here,  children,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  taking  a  hand 
of  either  one,  and  leading  them  to  the  closed  door  of  the 
keeping-room ;  "  I  've  got  somethin'  to  show  you." 

The  room  looked  ghostly  and  dim,  —  the  rays  of  light  fell 
through  the  closed  shutter  on  an  object  mysteriously  muffled 
in  a  white  sheet. 

Sally's  bright  face  expressed  only  the  vague  curiosity  of  a 


62  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

child  to  see  something  new  ;  but  the  little  Mara  resisted  and 
hung  back  with  all  her  force,  so  that  Mrs.  Kittridge  was 
obliged  to  take  her  up  and  hold  her. 

She  folded  back  the  sheet  from  the  chill  and  wintry  form 
which  lay  so  icily,  lonely,  and  cold.  Sally  walked  around 
it,  and  gratified  her  curiosity  by  seeing  it  from  every  point 
of  view,  and  laying  her  warm,  busy  hand  on  the  lifeless  and 
cold  one ;  but  Mara  clung  to  Mrs.  Kittridge,  with  eyes  that 
expressed  a  distressed  astonishment.  The  good  woman 
stooped  over  and  placed  the  child's  little  hand  for  a  mo 
ment  on  the  icy  forehead.  The  little  one  gave  a  piercing 
scream,  and  struggled  to  get  away ;  and  as  soon  as  she  was 
put  down,  she  ran  and  hid  her  face  in  Aunt  Roxy's  dress, 
sobbing  bitterly. 

"  That  child  '11  grow  up  to  follow  vanity,"  said  Mrs.  Kit 
tridge  ;  "  her  little  head  is  full  of  dress  now,  and  she  hates 
anything  serious,  —  it 's  easy  to  see  that." 

The  little  Mara  had  no  words  to  tell  what  a  strange,  dis- 
;  tressful  chill  had  passed  up  her  arm  and  through  her  brain, 
as  she  felt  that  icy  cold  of  death,  —  that  cold  so  different 
from  all  others.  It  was  an  impression  of  fear  and  pain  that 
lasted  weeks  and  months,  so  that  she  would  start  out  of  sleep 
and  cry  with  a  terror  which  she  had  not  yet  a  sufficiency  of 
language  to  describe. 

"  You  seem  to  forget,  Mis'  Kittridge,  that  this  'ere  child 
a'n't  rugged  like  our  Sally,"  said  Aunt  Roxy,  as  she  raised 
the  little  Mara  in  her  arms.  "  She  was  a  seven-months' 
baby,  and  hard  to  raise  at  all,  and  a  shivery,  scary  little 
creature." 

"  Well,  then,  she  ought  to  be  hardened,"  said  Dame  Kit 
tridge.  "  But  Mary  Fennel  never  had  no  sort  of  idea  of 
bringin'  up  children,  —  't  was  jist  so  with  Naomi,  —  the  girl 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  63 

never  had  no  sort  o'- resolution,  and  she  just  died  for  want  o' 
resolution,  —  that 's  what  came  of  it.  I  tell  ye,  children  's 
got  to  learn  to  take  the  world  as  it  is;  and  'ta'n't  no  use 
bringin'  on  'em  up  too  tender.  Teach  'em  to  begin  as 
they  've  got  to  go  on,  —  that 's  my  maxim." 

"  Mis'  Kittridge,"  said  Aunt  Roxy,  "  there  's  reason  in  all 
things,  and  there  's  difference  in  children.  '  What 's  one's 
meat 's  another's  pison.'  You  could  n't  fetch  up  Mis'  Fen 
nel's  children,  and  she  could  n't  fetch  up  yourn,  —  so  let 's 
say  no  more  'bout  it." 

"  I  'm  always  a-tellin'  my  wife  that  ar,"  said  Captain  Kit 
tridge  ;  "  she  's  always  wantin'  to  make  everybody  over  after 
her  pattern." 

"  Cap'n  Kittridge,  I  don't  think  you  need  to  speak," 
resumed  his  wife.  "  When  such  a  loud  providence  is 
a-knockin'  at  your  door,  I  think  you  'd  better  be  a-searchin' 
your  own  heart,  —  here  it  is  the  eleventh  hour,  and  you 
ha' n't  come  into  the  Lord's  vineyard  yet." 

u  Oh !  come,  come,  Mis'  Kittridge,  don't  twit  a  feller 
afore  folks,"  said  the  Captain.  "  I  'm  goin'  over  to  Harps- 
well  Neck  this  blessed  minute  after  the  minister  to  'tend  the 
funeral,  —  so  we  '11  let  him  preach." 


64  THE  PEARL   OF  OKR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LIFE  on  any  shore  is  a  dull  affair,  —  ever  degenerating 
into  commonplace  ;  and  this  may  account  for  the  eagerness 
with  which  even  a  great  calamity  is  sometimes  accepted  in  a 
neighborhood,  as  affording  wherewithal  to  stir  the  deeper 
feelings  of  our  nature. 

j  Thus,  though  Mrs.  Kittridge  was  by  no  means  a  hard 
hearted  woman,  and  would  not  for  the  world  have  had  a 
ship  wrecked  on  her  particular  account,  yet  since  a  ship  had 
been  wrecked  and  a  body  floated  ashore  at  her  very  door, 
as  it  were,  it  afforded  her  no  inconsiderable  satisfaction  to 
dwell  on  the  details  and  to  arrange  for  the  funeral. 

It  was  something  to  talk  about  and  to  think  of,  and  likely 
to  furnish  subject-matter  for  talk  for  years  to  come  when 
she  should  go  out  to  tea  with  any  of  her  acquaintances  who 
lived  at  Middle  Bay,  or  Maquoit,  or  Harpswell  Neck.  For 
although  in  those  days,  —  the  number  of  light-houses  being 
much  smaller  than  it  is  now,  —  it  was  no  uncommon  thing 
for  ships  to  be  driven  on  shore  in  storms,  yet  this  incident 
had  undeniably  more  that  was  stirring  and  romantic  in  it 
than  any  within  the  memory  of  any  tea-table  gossip  in  the 
vicinity.  Mrs.  Kittridge,  therefore,  looked  forward  to  the 
funeral  services  on  Sunday  afternoon  as  to  a  species  of 
solemn  fete,  which  imparted  a  sort  of  consequence  to  her 
dwelling  and  herself.  Notice  of  it  was  to  be  given  out  in 
"  meeting  "  after  service,  and  she  might  expect  both  keep- 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  65 

ing-room  and  kitchen  to  be  full.  Mrs.  Pennel  had  offered 
to  do  her  share  of  Christian  and  neighborly  kindness,  in 
taking  home  to  her  own  dwelling  the  little  boy.  In  fact,  it 
became  necessary  to  do  so  in  order  to  appease  the  feelings 
of  the  little  Mara,- who  clung  to  the  new  acquisition  with 
most  devoted  fondness,  and  wept  bitterly  when  he  was  sep-  j 
arated  from  her  even  for  a  few  moments.  Therefore,  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  day  when  the  body  was  found,  Mrs.  Pennel, 
who  had  come  down  to  assist,  went  back  in  company  with 
Aunt  Ruey  and  the  two  children. 

The  September  evening  set  in  brisk  and  chill,  and  the 
cheerful  fire  that  snapped  and  roared  up  the  ample  chimney 
of  Captain  Kittridge's  kitchen  was  a  pleasing  feature.  The 
days  of  our  story  were  before  the  advent  of  those  sullen 
gnomes,  the  "  air-tights,"  or  even  those  more  sociable  and 
cheery  domestic  genii,  the  cooking-stoves.  They  were  the  v 
days  of  the  genial  open  kitchen-fire,  with  the  crane,  the 
pot-hooks,  and  trammels,  —  where  hissed  and  boiled  the 
social  tea-kettle,  where  steamed  the  huge  dinner-pot,  in 
whose  ample  depths  beets,  carrots,  potatoes,  and  turnips 
boiled  in  jolly  sociability  with  the  pork  or  corned  beef 
which  they  were  destined  to  flank  at  the  coming  meal. 

On  the  present  evening,  Miss  Roxy  sat  bolt  upright,  as 
was  her  wont,  in  one  corner  of  the  fireplace,  with  her  specta 
cles  on  her  nose,  and  an  unwonted  show  of  candles  on  the 
little  stand  beside  her,  having  resumed  the  task  of  the  silk 
dress  which  had  been  for  a  season  interrupted.  Mrs.  Kit- 
tridge,  with  her  spectacles  also  mounted,  was  carefully  and 
warily  "  running-up  breadths,"  stopping  every  few  minutes 
to  examine  her  work,  and  to  inquire  submissively  of  Miss 
Roxy  if  "it  will  do?" 

Captain  Kittridge  sat  in  the  other  corner  busily  whittling 


66  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

on  a  little  boat  which  he  was  shaping  to  please  Sally,  who  sat 
on  a  low  stool  by  his  side  with  her  knitting,  evidently  more 
intent  on  what  her  father  was  producing  than  on  the  evening 
task  of  "  ten  bouts,"  which  her  mother  exacted  before  she 
could  freely  give  her  mind  to  anything  on  her  own  account. 
As  Sally  was  rigorously  sent  to  bed  exactly  at  eight  o'clock, 
it  became  her  to  be  diligent  if  she  wished  to  do  anything  for 
her  own  amusement  before  that  hour. 

And  in  the  next  room,  cold  and  still,  was  lying  that  faded 
image  of  youth  and  beauty  which  the  sea  had  so  strangely 
given  up.  Without  a  name,  without  a  history,  without  a 
single  accompaniment  from  which  her  past  could  even  be 
surmised,  —  there  she  lay,  sealed  in  eternal  silence. 

"  It 's  strange,"  said  Captain  Kittridge,  as  he  whittled 
away,  —  "  it 's  very  strange  we  don't  find  anything  more  of 
that  ar  ship.  I  've  been  all  up  and  down  the  beach  a-Iookin'. 
There  was  a  spar  and  some  broken  bits  of  boards  and  tim 
bers  come  ashore  down  on  the  beach,  but  nothin'  to  speak  of." 

"  It  won't  be  known  till  the  sea  gives  up  its  dead,"  said 
Miss  Roxy,  shaking  her  head  solemnly,  "  and  there  '11  be  a 
great  givin'  up  then,  I  'm  a-thinkin'." 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  with  an  emphatic  nod. 

"  Father,"  said  Sally,  "  how  many,  many  things  there 
must  be  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  —  so  many  ships  are 
sunk  with  all  their  fine  things  on  board.  Why  don't  people 
contrive  some  way  to  go  down  and  get  them  ?  " 

"  They  do,  child,"  said  Captain  Kittridge ;  "  they  have 
diving-bells,  and  men  go  down  in  'em  with  caps  over  their 
faces,  and  long  tubes  to  get  the  air  through,  and  they  walk 
about  on  the  bottom  of  the  ocean." 

"  Did  you  ever  go  down  in  one,  father  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  child,  to  be  sure  ;  and  strange  enough  it  was, 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  67 

to  be  sure.  There  you  could  see  great  big  sea  critters,  with 
ever  so  many  eyes  and  long  arms,  swimming  right  up  to 
catch  you,  and  all  you  could  do  would  be  to  muddy  the 
water  on  the  bottom,  so  they  could  n't  see  you." 

"  I  never  heard  of  that,  Cap'n  Kittridge,"  said  his  wife, 
drawing  herself  up  with  a  reproving  coolness. 

"  Wai',  Mis'  Kittridge,  you  ha'  n't  heard  of  everything 
that  ever  happened,"  said  the  Captain,  imperturbably, 
"though  you  do  know  a  sight." 

"  And  how  does  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  look,  father  ?  " 
said  Sally. 

"  Laws,  child,  why  trees  and  bushes  grow  there,  just  as 
they  do  on  land ;  and  great  plants,  —  blue  and  purple  and 
green  and  yellow,  and  lots  of  great  pearls  lie  round.  I  've 
seen. 'em  big  as  chippin'-birds'  eggs." 

"  Cap'n  Kittridge  ! "  said  his  wife. 

"  I  have,  and  big  as  robins'  eggs,  too,  but  them  was  off 
the  coast  of  Ceylon  and  Malabar,  and  way  round  the  Equa 
tor,"  said  the  Captain,  prudently  resolved  to  throw  his  ro 
mance  to  a  sufficient  distance. 

"  It 's  a  pity  you  did  n't  get  a  few  of  them  pearls,"  said 
his  wife,  with  an  indignant  appearance  of  scorn. 

"  I  did  get  lots  on  'em,  and  traded  'em  off  to  the  Nabobs 
in  the  interior  for  Cashmere  shawls  and  India  silks  and 
sich,"  said  the  Captain,  composedly ;  "  and  brought  'em 
home  and  sold  'em  at  a  good  figure,  too." 

"  Oh,  father ! "  said  Sally,  earnestly,  "  I  wish  you  had 
saved  just  one  or  two  for  us." 

"Laws,  child,  I  wish  now  I  had,"  said  the  Captain,  good- 
naturedly.  "  Why,  when  I  was  in  India,  I  went  up  to 
Lucknow,  and  Benares,  and  round,  and  saw  all  the  Nabobs 
and  Biggums,  —  why,  they  don't  make  no  more  of  gold  and 


68  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

silver  and  precious  stones  than  we  do  of  the  shells  we  find 
on  the  beach.  Why,  I  've  seen  one  of  them  fellers  with  a 
diamond  in  his  turban  as  big  as  my  fist."  . 

"  Cap'n  Kittridge,  what  are  you  telling  ? "  said  his  wife 
once  more. 

"  Fact,  —  as  big  as  my  fist,"  said  the  Captain,  obdurately ; 
"  and  all  the  clothes  he  wore  was  jist  a  stiff  crust  of  pearls 
and  precious  stones.  I  tell  you,  he  looked  like  something  in 
the  Revelations,  —  a  real  New  Jerusalem  look  he  had." 

"  /  call  that  ar  talk  wicked,  Cap'n  Kittridge,  usin'  Scrip- 
tur*  that  ar  way,"  said  his  wife. 

"  Why,  don't  it  tell  about  all  sorts  of  gold  and  precious 
stones  in  the  Revelations  ?  "  said  the  Captain ;  "  that 's  all  I 
meant.  Them  ar  countries  off  in  Asia  a'n't  like  our  'n,  — 
stands  to  reason  they  should  n't  be ;  them  's  Scripture  coun 
tries,  and  everything  is  different  there." 

"  Father,  did  n't  you  ever  get  any  of  those  splendid 
things  ?  "  said  Sally. 

"  Laws,  yes,  child.  Why,  I  had  a  great  green  ring,  an 
emerald,  that  one  of  the  princes  giv'  me,  and  ever  so  many 
pearls  and  diamonds.  I  used  to  go  with  'em  rattlin'  loose  in 
my  vest  pocket.  I  was  young  and  gay  in  them  days,  and 
thought  of  bringin'  of  'em  home  for  the  gals,  but  somehow  I 
always  got  opportunities  for  swappin'  of  'em  off  for  goods  and 
sich.  That  ar  shawl  your  mother  keeps  in  her  camfire  chist 
was  what  I  got  for  one  on  'em." 

"  Well,  well,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  there 's  never  any 
catchin'  you,  'cause  you  've  been  where  we  have  n't." 

"  You  've  caught  me  once,  and  that  ought  'r  do,"  said  the 
Captain,  with  unruffled  good-nature.  "  I  tell  you,  Sally,  your 
mother  was  the  handsomest  gal  in  Harpswell  in  them  days." 

"  I    should   think   you    was   too   old   for  such   nonsense, 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  69 

Cap'n,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  with  a  toss  of  her  head,  and 
a  voice  that  sounded  far  less  inexorable  than  her  former 
admonition. 

In  fact,  though  the  old  Captain  was  as  unmanageable  un 
der  his  wife's  fireside  regime  as  any  brisk  old  cricket  that 
skipped  and  sang  around  the  hearth,  and  though  he  hopped 
over  all  moral  boundaries  with  a  cheerful  alertness  of  con 
science  that  was  quite  discouraging,  still  there  was  no  resist 
ing  the  spell  of  his  inexhaustible  good-nature. 

By  this  time  he  had  finished  the  little  boat,  and  to  Sally's 
great  delight,  began  sailing  it  for  her  in  a  pail  of  water. 

"  I  wonder,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  what 's  to  be  done 
with  that  ar  child.  I  suppose  the  selectmen  will  take 
care  on't;  it'll  be  brought  up  by  the  town." 

"  I  should  n't  wonder,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  if  Cap'n  Fennel 
should  adopt  it." 

"You  don't  think  so,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge.  "  'T  would 
be  taking  a  great  care  and  expense  on  their  hands  at  their 
time  of  life." 

"  I  would  n't  want  no  better  fun  than  to  bring  up  that 
little  shaver,"  said  Captain  Kittridge  ;  "  he 's  a  bright  un,  I 
promise  you." 

"  You,  Cap'n  Kittridge  !  I  wonder  you  can  talk  so,"  said 
his  wife.  "  It 's  an  awful  responsibility,  and  I  wonder  you 
don't  think  whether  or  no  you  're  fit  for  it." 

"  Why,  down  here  on  the  shore,  I  'd  as  lives  undertake  a 
boy  as  a  Newfoundland  pup,"  said  the  Captain.  "  Plenty  in 
the  sea  to  eat,  drink,  and  wear.  That  ar  young  un  may  be 
the  staff  of  their  old  age  yet." 

''  You  see,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  I  think  they  '11  adopt  it  to 
be  company  for  little  Mara ;  they  Y  bound  up  in  her,  and 
the  little  thing  pines  bein'  alone." 


70  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Well,  they  make  a  real  graven  image  of  that  ar  child," 
said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  and  fairly  bow  down  to  her  and  wor 
ship  her." 

"  Well,  it 's  natural,"  said  Miss  Roxy.  "  Besides,  the 
little  thing  is  cunnin' ;  she  's  about  the  cunnin'est  little 
crittur  that  I  ever  saw,  and  has  such  enticin'  ways." 
"  The  fact  was,  as  the  reader  may  perceive,  that  Miss  Roxy 
had  been  thawed  into  an  unusual  attachment  for  the  little 
Mara,  and  this  affection  was  beginning  to  spread  a  warming 
element  through  her  whole  being.  It  was  as  if  a  rough 
granite  rock  had  suddenly  awakened  to  a  passionate  con 
sciousness  of  the  beauty  of  some  fluttering  white  anemone 
that  nestled  in  its  cleft,  and  felt  warm  thrills  running  through 
all  its  veins  at  every  tender  motion  and  shadow.  A  word 
spoken  against  the  little  one  seemed  to  rouse  her  combative- 
ness.  Nor  did  Dame  Kittridge  bear  the  child  the  slightest 
ill-will,  but  she  was  one  of  those  naturally  care-taking  peo 
ple  whom  Providence  seems  to  design  to  perform  the  picket 
duties  for  the  rest  of  society,  and  who,  therefore,  challenge 
everybody  and  everything  to  stand  and  give  an  account  of 
themselves. 

Miss  Roxy  herself  belonged  to  this  class,  but  sometimes 
found  herself  so  stoutly  overhauled  by  the  guns  of  Mrs. 
Kittridge's  battery,  that  she  could  only  stand  modestly  on 
the  defensive. 

One  of  Mrs.  Kittridge's  favorite  hobbies  was  education^ 
or,  as  she  phrased  it,  the  "  fetchin'  up  "  of  children,  which 
she  held  should  be  performed  to  the  letter  of  the  old  stiff 
rule.  In  this  manner  she  had  already  trained  up  six  sons, 
who  were  all  following  their  fortunes  upon  the  seas,  and, 
on  this  account,  she  had  no  small  conceit  of  her  abilities; 
and  when  she  thought  she  discerned  a  lamb  being  left  to 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.          71 

frisk  heedlessly  out  of  bounds,  her  zeal  was  stirred  to  bring 
it  under  proper  sheepfold  regulations. 

"  Come,  Sally,  it 's  eight  o'clock,"  said  the  good  woman. 

Sally's  dark  brows  lowered  over  her  large,  black  eyes, 
and  she  gave  an  appealing  look  to  her  father. 

"  Law,  mother,  let  the  child  sit  up  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
later,  jist  for  once." 

"  Cap'n  Kittridge,  if  I  was  to  hear  to  you,  there  'd  never  be 
no  rule  in  this  house.  Sally,  you  go  'long  this  minute,  and 
be  sure  you  put  your  knittin'  away  in  its  place." 

The  Captain  gave  a  humorous  nod  of  submissive  good 
nature  to  his  daughter  as  she  went  out.  In  fact,  putting 
Sally  to  bed  was  taking  away  his  plaything,  and  leaving 
him  nothing  to  do  but  study  faces  in  the  coals,  or  watch 
the  fleeting  sparks  which  chased  each  other  in  flocks  up 
the  sooty  back  of  the  chimney. 

It  was  Saturday  night,  and  the  morrow  was  Sunday,  — 
never  a  very  pleasant  prospect  to  the  poor  Captain,  who, 
having,  unfortunately,  no  spiritual  tastes,  found  it  very 
difficult  to  get  through  the  day  in  compliance  with  his 
wife's  views  of  propriety,  for  he,  alas  !  soared  no  higher 
in  his  aims. 

"  I  b'lieve,  on  the  hull,  Polly,  I  '11  go  to  bed,  too,"  said  he, 
suddenly  starting  up. 

"  Well,  father,  your  clean  shirt  is  in  the  right-hand  corner 
of  the  upper  drawer,  and  your  Sunday  clothes  on  the  back 
of  the  chair  by  the  bed." 

The  fact  was  that  the  Captain  promised  himself  the' 
pleasure  of  a  long  conversation  with  Sally,  who  nestled  in 
the  trundle-bed  under  the  paternal  couch,  to  whom  he  could 
relate  long,  many-colored  yarns,  without  the  danger  of  inter 
ruption  from  her  mother's  sharp,  truth-seeking  voice. 


72  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

A  moralist  might,  perhaps,  be  puzzled  exactly  what  ac 
count  to  make  of  the  Captain's  disposition  to  romancing 
and  embroidery.  In  all  real,  matter-of-fact  transactions, 
as  between  man  and  man,  his  word  was  as  good  as 
another's,  and  he  was  held  to  be  honest  and  just  in  his 
dealings.  It  was  only  when  he  mounted  the  stilts  of  foreign 
travel  that  his  paces  became  so  enormous.  Perhaps,  after 
all,  a  rude  poetic  and  artistic  faculty  possessed  the  man. 
He  might  have  been  a  humbler  phase  of  the  "mute,  in 
glorious  Milton."  Perhaps  his  narrations  required  the  priv 
ileges  and  allowances  due  to  the  inventive  arts  generally. 
Certain  it  was  that,  in  common  with  other  artists,  he  re 
quired  an  atmosphere  of  sympathy  and  confidence  in  which 
to  develop  himself  fully  ;  and,  when  left  alone  with  children, 
his  mind  ran  such  riot,  that  the  bounds  between  the  real  and 
unreal  became  foggier  than  the  banks  of  Newfoundland. 

The  two  women  sat  up,  and  the  night  wore  on  apace, 
while  they  kept  together  that  customary  vigil  which  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  hold  over  the  lifeless  casket  from  which 
an  immortal  jewel  had  recently  been  withdrawn. 

"  I  re'lly  did  hope,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  mournfully,  "  that 
this  'ere  solemn  Providence  would  have  been  sent  home  to 
the  Cap'n's  mind ;  but  he  seems  jist  as  light  and  triflin'  as 
ever." 

"  There  don't  nobody  see  these  'ere  things  unless  they  's 
effectually  called,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  and  the  Cap'n's  time 
a'n't  come." 

"  It  ?s  gettin'  to  be  t'ward  the  eleventh  hour,"  said  Mrs. 
Kittridge,  u  as  I  was  a-tellin'  him  this  afternoon." 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  you  know 

'While  the  lamp  holds  out  to  burn, 
The  vilest  sinner  may  return.'  " 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.          73 

"  Yes,  I  know  that,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  rising  and  taking 
up  the  candle.  "Don't  you  think,  Aunt  Roxy,  we  may  as 
well  give  a  look  in  there  at  the  corpse?" 

It  was  past  midnight  as  they  went  together  into  the 
keeping-room.  All  was  so  still  that  the  clash  of  the  rising 
tide  and  the  ticking  of  the  clock  assumed  that  solemn  and 
mournful  distinctness  which  even  tones  less  impressive  take 
on  in  the  night-watches. 

Miss  Roxy  went  mechanically  through  with  certain  ar 
rangements  of  the  white  drapery  around  the  cold  sleeper, 
and  uncovering  the  face  and  bust  for  a  moment,  looked 
critically  at  the  still  unconscious  countenance. 

"  Not  one  thing  to  let  us  know  who  or  what  she  is,"  she 
said ;  "  that  boy,  if  he  lives,  would  give  a  good  deal  to  know 
some  day." 

"  What  is  it  one's  duty  to  do  about  this  bracelet  ?  "  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge,  taking  from  a  drawer  the  article  in  ques 
tion,  which  had  been  found  on  the  beach  in  the  morning. 

"  Well,  I  s'pose  it  belongs  to  the  child,  whatever  it 's 
worth,"  said  Miss  Roxy. 

"  Then  if  the  Fennels  conclude  to  take  him,  I  may  as 
well  give  it  to  them,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  laying  it  back  in 
the  drawer. 

Miss  Roxy  folded  the  cloth  back  over  the  face,  and  the 
two  went  out  into  the  kitchen.  The  fire  had  sunk  low  — 
the  crickets  were  chirruping  gleefully.  Mrs.  Kittridge 
added  more  wood,  and  put  on  the  tea-kettle  that  their 
watching  might  be  refreshed  by  the  aid  of  its  talkative 
and  inspiring  beverage.  The  two  solemn,  hard-visaged 
women  drew  up  to  each  other  by  the  fire,  and  insensibly 
their  very  voices  assumed  a  tone  of  drowsy  and  confidential 
mystery. 

4 


74          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  If  this  'ere  poor  woman  was  hopefully  pious,  and  could 
see  what  was  goin'  on  here,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  it  would 
seem  to  be  a  comfort  to  her  that  her  child  has  fallen  into 
such  good  hands.  It  seems  a' most  a  pity  she  could  n't 
know  it." 

"  How  do  you  know  she  don't  ?  "  said  Miss  Roxy,  bruskly. 

"  Why,  you  know  the  hymn,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  quoting 
those  somewhat  saddusaical  lines  from  the  popular  psalm- 
book  :  — 

"  *  The  living  know  that  they  must  die, 
But  all  the  dead  forgotten  lie  — 
Their  memory  and  their  senses  gone. 
Alike  unknowinn  and  unknown.1  " 


«  Well,  I  don't  know  'bout  that,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  flavor 
ing  her  cup  of  tea ;  "  hymn-book  a'n't  Scriptur',  and  I  'm 
pretty  sure  that  ar  a'n't  true  always ; "  and  she  nodded  her 
head  as  if  she  could  say  more  if  she  chose. 

Now  Miss  Roxy's  reputation  of  vast  experience  in  all  the 
facts  relating  to  those  last  fateful  hours  which  are  the  only 
certain  event  in  every  human  existence,  caused  her  to  be 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  Delphic  oracle  in  such  matters,  and 
therefore  Mrs.  Kittridge,  not  without  a  share  of  the  latent 
superstition  to  which  each  human  heart  must  confess  at  some 
hours,  drew  confidentially  near  to  Miss  Roxy,  and  asked  if 
she  had  anything  particular  on  her  mind. 

"  Well,  Mis'  Kittridge,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  I  a'n't  one  of 
the  sort  as  likes  to  make  a  talk  of  what  I  've  seen,  but  meb- 
be  if  I  was,  I  've  seen  some  things  as  remarkable  as  any 
body.  I  tell  you  Mis'  Kittridge,  folks  don't  tend  the  sick 
and  dyin'  bed  year  in  and  out,  at  all  hours,  day  and  night, 
and  not  see  some  remarkable  things  ;  that 's  my  opinion." 

"  Well,  Miss  Roxy,  did  you  ever  see  a  sperit  ?  " 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.          75 

u  I  won't  say  as  I  have,  and  I  won't  say  as  I  hav'  n't," 
said  Miss  Roxy ;  "  only  as  I  have  seen  some  remarkable 
things."  There  was  a  pause,  in  which  Mrs.  Kittridge  stirred 
her  tea,  looking  intensely  curious,  while  the  old  kitchen- 
clock  seemed  to  tick  with  one  of  those  fits  of  loud  insist- 
ance  which  seem  to  take  clocks  at  times  when  all  is  still,  as 
if  they  had  something  that  they  were  getting  ready  to  say 
pretty  soon,  if  nobody  else  spoke. 

But  Miss  Roxy  evidently  had  something  to  say,  and  so 
she  began  :  — 

"  Mis'  Kittridge,  this  'ere  's  a  very  particular  subject  to 
be  talkin'  of.  I  've  had  opportunities  to  observe  that  most 
hav'  n't,  and  I  don't  care  if  I  jist  say  to  you,  that  I  'm  pretty 
sure  spirits  that  has  left  the  body  do  come  to  their  friends 
sometimes." 

The  clock  ticked  with  still  more  empressement,  and  Mrs. 
Kittridge  glared  through  the  horn  bows  of  her  glasses  with 
eyes  of  eager  curiosity. 

"  Now,  you  remember  Cap'n  Titcomb's  wife  that  died  fif 
teen  years  ago  when  her  husband  had  gone  to  Archangel, 
and  you  remember  that  he  took  her  son  John  out  with  him 
—  and  of  all  her  boys,  John  was  the  one  she  was  particular 
sot  on." 

"  Yes,  and  John  died  at  Archangel ;  I  remember  that." 

"  Jes'  so,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  laying  her  hand  on  Mrs.  Kit- 
tridge's;  "he  died  at  Archangel  the  very  day  his  mother  died, 
and  jist  the  hour,  for  the  Cap'n  had  it  down  in  his  log-book." 

"  You  don't  say  so  !  " 

"  Yes  I  do.  Well,  now,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  sinking  her 
voice,  "  this  'ere  was  remarkable.  Mis'  Titcorab  was  one  of 
the  fearful  sort,  tho'  one  of  the  best  women  that  ever  lived. 
Our  minister  used  to  call  her  '  Mis'  Muchafraid '  —  you 


76          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

know,  in  the  '  Pilgrim's  Progress '  —  but  he  was  satisfied 
with  .her  evidences,  and  told  her  so ;  she  used  to  say  she  was 
'afraid  of  the  dark  valley,'  and  she  told  our  minister  so 
when  he  went  out.  that  ar  last  day  he  called ;  and  his 
last  words,  as  he  stood  with  his  hand  on  the  knob  of  the 
door,  was  '  Mis'  Titcomb,  the  Lord  will  find  ways  to  bring 
you  thro'  the  dark  valley.'  Well,  she  sunk  away  about 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  I  remember  the  time,  'cause 
the  Cap'n's  chronometer  watch  that  he  left  with  her  lay  on 
the  stand  for  her  to  take  her  drops  by.  I  heard  her  kind  o' 
restless,  and  I  went  up,  and  I  saw  she  was  struck  with  death, 
and  she  looked  sort  o'  anxious  and  distressed. 

"  '  Oh,  Aunt  Roxy,'  says  she,  '  it 's  so  dark,  who  will  go 
with  me? 'and  in  a  minute  her  whole  face  brightened  up, 
and  says  she,  '  John  is  going  with  me,'  and  she  jist  gave  the 
least  little  sigh  and  never  breathed  no  more  —  she  jist  died 
as  easy  as  a  bird. 

"  I  told  our  minister  of  it  next  morning,  and  he  asked  if 
I  'd  made  a  note  of  the  hour,  and  I  told  him  I  had,  and  says 
he,  '  You  did  right,  Aunt  E-oxy.'  " 

"  What  did  he  seem  to  think  of  it  ?  " 

"  Well,  he  did  n't  seem  inclined  to  speak  freely.  '  Miss 
Roxy,'  says  he,  '  all  natur  's  in  the  Lord's  hands,  and  there  's 
no  saying  why  he  uses  this  or  that ;  them  that 's  strong 
enough  to  go  by  faith,  he  lets  'em,  but  there  's  no  saying 
what  he  won't  do  for  the  weak  ones.'" 

"  Wa'n't  the  Cap'n  overcome  when  you  told  him  ?  "  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge. 

"  Indeed  he  was  ;  he  was  jist  as  white  as  a  sheet." 

Miss  Roxy  now  proceeded  to  pour  out  another  cup  of  tea, 
and  having  mixed  and  flavored  it,  she  looked  in  a  weird  and 
sibylline  manner  across  it,  and  inquired,  — 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S  ISLAND.  77 

"  Mis'  Kittridge,  do  you  remember  that  ar  Mr.  Wadkins 
that  come  to  Brunswick  twenty  years  ago,  in  President 
Averill's  days  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  remember  the  pale,  thin,  long-nosed  gentleman 
that  used  to  sit  in  President  Averill's  pew  at  church.  No 
body  knew  who  he  was  or  where  he  came  from.  The  col 
lege  students  used  to  call  him  Thaddeus  of  Warsaw.  No 
body  knew  who  he  was  but  the  President,  'cause  he  could 
speak  all  the  foreign  tongues  —  one  about  as  well  as  an 
other  ;  but  the  President  he  knew  his  story,  and  said  he  was 
a  good  man,  and  he  used  to  stay  to  the  sacrament  regular,  I 
remember." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  he  used  to  live  in  a  room  all 
alone,  and  keep  himself.  Folks  said  he  was  quite  a  gentle 
man,  too,  and  fond  of  reading." 

"  I  heard  Cap'n  Atkins  tell,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  how 
they  came  to  take  him  up  on  the  shores  of  Holland.  You 
see,  when  he  was  somewhere  in  a  port  in  Denmark,  some 
men  come  to  him  and  offered  him  a  pretty  good  sum  of 
money  if  he  'd  be  at  such  a  place  on  the  coast  of  Holland 
on  such  a  day,  and  take  whoever  should  come.  So  the 
Cap'n  he  went,  and  sure  enough  on  that  day  there  come  a 
troop  of  men  on  horseback  down  to  the  beach  with  this  man, 
and  they  all  bid  him  good-by,  and  seemed  to  make  much  of 
him,  but  he  never  told  'em  nothin'  on  board  ship,  only  he 
seemed  kind  o'  sad  and  pinin'." 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Roxy ;  "  Ruey  and  I  we  took  care  o' 
that  man  in  his  last  sickness,  and  we  watched  with  him  the 
night  he  died,  and  there  was  something  quite  remarkable." 

"  Do  tell  now,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 

"  Well,  you  see,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  he  'd  been  low  and 
poorly  all  day,  kind  o'  tossin'  and  restless,  and  a  little  light- 


78  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

headed,  and  the  Doctor  said  he  thought  he  wouldn't  last  till 
morning,  and  so  Ruey  and  I  we  set  up  with  him,  and  be 
tween  twelve  and  one  Ruey  said  she  thought  she  'd  jist  lop 
down  a  few  minutes  on  the  old  sofa  at  the  foot  of  the  bed, 
and  I  made  me  a  cup  of  tea  like  as  I  'm  a-doin'  now,  and 
set  with  my  back  to  him." 

"  Well  ? "  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  eagerly. 

"Well,  you  see  he  kept  a-tossin'  and  throwin'  off  the 
clothes,  and  I  kept  a-gettin'  up  to  straighten  'em ;  and  once 
he  threw  out  his  arms,  and  something  bright  fell  out  on  to 
the  pillow,  and  I  went  and  looked,  and  it  was  a  likeness  that 
he  wore  by  a  ribbon  round  his  neck.  It  was  a  woman  —  a 
real  handsome  one  —  and  she  had  on  a  low-necked  black 
dress,  of  the  cut  they  used  to  call  Marie  Louise,  and  she  had 
a  string  of  pearls  round  her  neck,  and  her  hair  curled  with 
pearls  in  it,  and  very  wide  blue  eyes.  Well,  you  see,  I 
didn't  look  but  a  minute  before  he  seemed  to  wake  up,  and 
he  caught  at  it  and  hid  it  in  his  clothes.  Well,  I  went  and 
sat  down,  and  I  grew  kind  o'  sleepy  over  the  fire ;  but  pretty 
soon  I  heard  him  speak  out  very  clear,  and  kind  o'  sur 
prised,  in  a  tongue  I  did  n't  understand,  and  I  looked 
round." 

Miss  Roxy  here  made  a  pause,  and  put  another  lump  of 
sugar  into  her  tea. 

"  Well  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  ready  to  burst  with  curi 
osity. 

"  Well,  now,  I  don't  like  to  tell  about  these  'ere  things, 
and  you  must  n't  never  speak  about  it ;  but  as  sure  as  you 
live,  Polly  Kittridge,  I  see  that  ar  very  woman  standin'  at 
the  back  of  the  bed,  right  in  the  partin'  of  the  curtains,  jist 
as  she  looked  in  the  pictur'  —  blue  eyes  and  curly  hair,  and 
pearls  on  her  neck,  and  black  dress." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  79 

"  What  did  you  do  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 

"  Do  ?  Why,  I  jist  held  my  breath  and  looked,  and  in  a 
minute  it  kind  o'  faded  away,  and  I  got  up  and  went  to  the 
bed,  but  the  man  was  gone.  He  lay  there  with  the  pleasant- 
est  smile  on  his  face  that  ever  you  see ;  and  I  woke  up 
Ruey,  and  told  her  about  it." 

Mrs.  Kittridge  drew  a  long  breath.  "  What  do  you  think 
it  was  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  I  know  what  I  think,  but  I 
don't  think  best  to  tell.  I  told  Doctor  Meritts,  and  he  said 
there  were  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth  than  folks  knew 

about  —  and  so  I  think." 

******* 

Meanwhile,  on  this  same  evening,  the  little  Mara  frisked 
like  a  household  fairy  round  the  hearth  of  Zephaniah 
Fennel. 

The  boy  was  a  strong-limbed,  merry-hearted  little  urchin, 
and  did  full  justice  to  the  abundant  hospitalities  of  Mrs. 
Fennel's  tea-table ;  and  after  supper  little  Mara  employed 
herself  in  bringing  apronful  after  apronful  of  her  choicest 
treasures,  and  laying  them  down  at  his  feet.  His  great 
black  eyes  flashed  with  pleasure,  and  he  gambolled  about 
the  hearth  with  his  new  playmate  in  perfect  forgetfulness, 
apparently,  of  all  the  past  night  of  fear  and  anguish. 

When  the  great  family  Bible  was  brought  out  for  prayers, 
and  little  Mara  composed  herself  on  a  low  stool  by  her 
grandmother's  side,  he,  however,  did  not  conduct  himself 
as  a  babe  of  grace. 

He  resisted  all  Miss  Ruey's  efforts  to  make  him  sit  down 
beside  her,  and  stood  staring  with  his  great,  black,  irreverent 
eyes  during  the  Bible-reading,  and  laughed  out  in  the  most 
inappropriate  manner  when  the  psalm-singing  began,  and 


80  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

seemed  disposed  to  mingle  incoherent  remarks  of  his  own 
even  in  the  prayers. 

"  This  is  a  pretty  self-willed  youngster,"  said  Miss  Ruey, 
as  they  rose  from  the  exercises,  "  and  I  should  n't  think 
he  'd  been  used  to  religious  privileges." 

"  Perhaps  not,"  said  Zephaniah  Fennel ;  "  but  who  can 
say  but  what  this  providence  is  a  message  of  the  Lord  to  us 
—  such  as  Pharaoh's  daughter  sent  about  Moses  — '  Take 
this  child,  and  bring  him  up  for  me  '  ?  " 

"  I  'd  like  to  take  him,  if  I  thought  I  was  capable,"  said 
Mrs.  Pennel,  timidly.  "  It  seems  a  real  providence  to  give 
Mara  some  company  —  the  poor  child  pines  so  for  want 
of  it." 

"  Well,  then,  Mary,  if  you  say  so,  we  will  bring  him  up 
with  our  little  Mara,"  said  Zephaniah,  drawing  the  child 
toward  him. 

"  May  the  Lord  bless  him ! "  he  added,  laying  his  great 
brown  hands  on  the  shining  black  curls  of  the  child. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  81 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SUNDAY  morning  rose  clear  and  bright  on  Harpswell 
Bay.  The  whole  sea  was  a  waveless,  blue  looking-glass, 
streaked  with  bands  of  white,  and  flecked  with  sailing  cloud- 
shadows  from  the  skies  above. 

Orr's  Island,  with  its  blue-black  spruces,  its  silver  firs, 
its  golden  larches,  its  scarlet  sumachs,  lay  on  the  bosom 
of  the  deep  like  a  great  many-colored  gem  on  an  enchanted 
mirror. 

A  vague,  dreamlike  sense  of  rest  and  Sabbath  stillness 
seemed  to  brood  in  the  air.  The  very  spruce-trees  seemed 
to  know  that  it  was  Sunday,  and  to  point  solemnly  upward 
with  their  dusky  fingers ;  and  the  small  tide-waves  that 
chased  each  other  up  on  the  shelly  beach,  or  broke  against 
projecting  rocks,  seemed  to  do  it  with  a  chastened  decorum, 
as  if  each  blue-haired  wave  whispered  to  his  brother,  "  Be 
still  —  be  still." 

Yes,  Sunday  it  was  along  all  the  beautiful  shores  of 
Maine  —  netted  in  green  and  azure  by  its  thousand  islands, 
all  glorious  with  their  majestic  pines,  all  musical  and  silvery 
with  the  caresses  of  the  sea-waves,  that  loved  to  wander 
and  lose  themselves  in  their  numberless  shelly  coves  and 
tiny  beaches  among  their  cedar  shadows. 

Not  merely  as  a  burdensome  restraint,  or  a  weary  endur 
ance,  came  the  shadow  of  that  Puritan  Sabbath.  It  brought 
with  it  all  the  sweetness  that  belongs  to  rest,  all  the  sacred 


82  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

ness  that  hallows  home,  all  the  memories  of  patient  thrift, 
of  sober  order,  of  chastened  yet  intense  family  feeling,  of 
calmness,  purity,  and  self-respecting  dignity  which  distin 
guish  the  Puritan  household. 

It  seemed  a  solemn  pause  in  all  the  sights  and  sounds  of 
earth.  And  he  whose  moral  nature  was  not  yet  enough 
developed  to  fill  the  blank  with  visions  of  heaven,  was  yet 
wholesomely  instructed  by  his  weariness  into  the  secret  of 
his  own  spiritual  poverty. 

Zephaniah  Fennel,  in  his  best  Sunday  clothes,  with  his 
hard  visage  glowing  with  a  sort  of  interior  tenderness,  min 
istered  this  morning  at  his  family-altar  —  one  of  those  thou 
sand  priests  of  God's  ordaining  that  tend  the  sacred  fire  in 
as  many  families  of  New  England. 

He  had  risen  with  the  morning  star  and  been  forth  to 
meditate,  and  came  in  with  his  mind  softened  and  glowing. 
The  trancelike  calm  of  earth  and  sea  found  a  solemn  answer 
with  him,  as  he  read  what  a  poet  wrote  by  the  sea-shores  of 
the  Mediterranean,  ages  ago :  —  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my 
soul.  O  Lord  my  God,  thou  art  very  great ;  thou  art 
clothed  with  honor  and  majesty.  Who  coverest  thyself 
with  light  as  with  a  garment :  who  stretchest  out  the  heavens 
like  a  curtain  :  who  layeth  the  beams  of  his  chambers  in  the 
waters  :  who  maketh  the  clouds  his  chariot :  who  walketh 
upon  the  wings  of  the  wind.  The  trees  of  the  Lord  are  full 
of  sap ;  the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  which  he  hath  planted ; 
where  the  birds  make  their  nests  ;  as  for  the  stork,  the  fir- 
trees  are  her  house.  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works  ! 
in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all." 

Ages  ago  the  cedars  that  the  poet  saw  have  rotted  into 
dust,  and  from  their  cones  have  risen  generations  of  others, 
wide-winged  and  grand.  But  the  words  of  that  poet  have 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          83 

been  wafted  like  seed  to  our  days,  and  sprung  up  in  flowers 
of  trust  and  faith  in  a  thousand  households. 

"  Well,  now,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  when  the  morning  rite  was 
over,  "  Mis'  Pennel,  I  s'pose  you  and  the  Cap'n  will  be 
wantin'  to  go  to  the  raeetin',  so  don't  you  gin  yourse'ves  a 
mite  of  trouble  about  the  children,  for  I  '11  stay  at  home  with 
'em.  The  little  feller  was  starty  and  fretful  in  his  sleep  last 
night,  and  did  n't  seem  to  be  quite  well." 

"  No  wonder,  poor  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Pennel ;  "  it 's  a  won 
der  children  can  forget  as  they  do." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Ruey ;  "  you  know  them  lines  in  the 
*  English  Reader,'  — 

'  Gay  hope  is  theirs  by  fancy  led, 
Least  pleasing  when  possessed; 
The  tear  forgot  as  soon  as  shed, 
The  sunshine  of  the  breast.' 

Them  lines  all'ys  seemed  to  me  affectin'." 

Miss  Ruey's  sentiment  was  here  interrupted  by  a  loud 
cry  from  the  bedroom,  and  something  between  a  sneeze  and 
a  howl. 

"  Massy,  what  is  that  ar  young  un  up  to ! "  she  ex 
claimed,  rushing  into  the  adjoining  bedroom. 

There  stood  the  young  Master  Hopeful  of  our  story,  with 
streaming  eyes  and  much-bedaubed  face,  having  just,  after 
much  labor,  succeeded  in  making  Miss  Ruey's  snuff-box  fly 
open,  which  he  did  with  such  force  as  to  send  the  contents 
in  a  perfect  cloud  into  eyes,  nose,  and  mouth. 

The  scene  of  struggling  and  confusion  that  ensued  cannot 
be  described.  The  washings,  and  wipings,  and  sobbings, 
and  exhortings,  and  the  sympathetic  sobs  of  the  little  Mara, 
formed  a  small  tempest  for  the  time  being  that  was  rather 
appalling. 


84          THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"Well,  this  'ere's  a  youngster  that's  a-goin'  to  make 
work,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  when  all  things  were  tolerably 
restored.  "  Seems  to  make  himself  at  home  first  thino-." 

O 

"Poor  little  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel,  in  the  excess  of 
loving-kindness,  "  I  hope  he  will ;  he 's  welcome,  I  'm 
sure." 

I  "  Not  to  my  snuff-box,"  said   Miss  Ruey,  who  had  felt 
herself  attacked  in  a  very  tender  point. 

"  He 's  got  the  notion  of  lookin'  into  things  pretty  early," 
said  Captain  Fennel,  with  an  indulgent  smile. 

"Well,  Aunt  Ruey,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel,  when  this  dis 
turbance  was  somewhat  abated,  "  I  feel  kind  o'  sorry  to  de 
prive  you  of  your  privileges  to-day." 

"  Oh  !  never  mind  me,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  briskly.  "  I  've 
got  the  big  Bible,  and  I  can  sing  a  hymn  or  two  by  myself. 
My  voice  a'n't  quite  what  it  used  to  be,  but  then  I  get  a 
good  deal  of  pleasure  out  of  it." 

Aunt  Ruey,  it  must  be  known,  had  in  her  youth  been  one 
of  the  foremost  leaders  in  the  "  singers'  seats,"  and  now  was 
in  the  habit  of  speaking  of  herself  much  as  a  retired  prima 
donna  might,  whose  past  successes  were  yet  in  the  minds 
of  her  generation. 

After  giving  a  look  out  of  the  window,  to  see  that  the 
children  were  within  sight,  she  opened  the  big  Bible  at  the 
story  of  the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt,  and  adjusting  her  horn 
spectacles  with  a  sort  of  sideway  twist  on  her  little  pug  nose, 
she  seemed  intent  on  her  Sunday  duties.  A  moment  after 
she  looked  up  and  said,  — 

"  I  don't  know  but  I  must  send  a  message  by  you  over  to 
Mis'  Deacon  Badger,  about  a  worldly  matter,  if  't  is  Sun 
day;  but  I've  been  thinkin',  Mis'  Fennel,  that  there'll 
have  to  be  clothes  made  up  for  this  'ere  child  next  week, 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  85 

and  so  perhaps  Roxy  and  I  had  better  stop  here  a  day  or 
two  longer,  and  you  tell  Mis'  Badger  that  we  '11  come  to 
her  a  Wednesday,  and  so  she  '11  have  time  to  have  that  new 
press-board  done,  —  the  old  one  used  to  pester  me  so." 

"  Well,  I  '11  remember,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel. 

"  It  seems  a'most  impossible  to  prevent  one's  thoughts 
wanderin'  Sundays,"  said  Aunt  Ruey  ;  "  but  I  couldn't  help 
a-thinkin'  I  could  get  such  a  nice  pair  o'  trousers  out  of 
them  old  Sunday  ones  of  the  Cap'n's  in  the  garret.  I  was 
a-lookin'  at  'em  last  Thursday,  and  thinkin'  what  a  pity  't  was 
you  had  n't  nobody  to  cut  down  for ;  but  this  'ere  young  un  's 
going  to  be  such  a  tearer,  he  '11  want  somethin'  real  stout ; 
but  I'll  try  and  put  it  out  of  my  mind  till  Monday.  Mis' 
Fennel,  you  '11  be  sure  to  ask  Mis'  Titcomb  how  Harriet's 
toothache  is,  and  whether  them  drops  cured  her  that  I  gin 
her  last  Sunday ;  and  ef  you  '11  jist  look  in  a  minute  at 
Major  Broad's,  and  tell  'em  to  use  bayberry  wax  for  his 
blister,  it 's  so  healin' ;  and  do  jist  ask  if  Sally's  baby's  eye- 
tooth  has  come  through  yet." 

"  Well,  Aunt  Ruey,  I  '11  try  to  remember  all,"  said  Mrs. 
Fennel,  as  she  stood  at  the  glass  in  her  bedroom,  carefully 
adjusting  the  respectable  black  silk  shawl  over  her  shoul 
ders,  and  tying  her  neat  bonnet-strings. 

"I  s'pose,"  said  Aunt  Ruey,  "that  the  notice  of  the  funeral 
?11  be  gin  out  after  sermon." 

«  Yes,  I  think  so,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel. 

"  It 's  another  loud  call,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  and  I  hope  it 
will  turn  the  young  people  from  their  thoughts  of  dress  and 
vanity,  —  there  's  Mary  Jane  Sanborn  was  all  took  up  with 
gettin'  feathers  and  velvet  for  her  fall  bonnet.  I  don't  think 
I  shall  get  no  bonnet  this  year  till  snow  comes.  My  bon 
net  's  respectable  enough,  —  don't  you  think  so  ?  " 


86  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Certainly,  Aunt  Ruey,  it  looks  very  well." 

"  Well,  I  '11  have  the  pork  and  beans  and  brown-bread 
all  hot  on  table  agin  you  come  back,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  and 
then  after  dinner  we  '11  all  go  down  to  the  funeral  together. 
Mis'  Pennel,  there  's  one  thing  on  my  mind,  —  what  you 
goin'  to  call  this  'ere  boy  ? " 

"  Father  and  I  Ve  been  thinkin'  that  over,"  said  Mrs. 
Pennel. 

"  Would  n't  think  of  giv'n  him  the  Cap'n's  name  ?  "  said 
Aunt  Ruey. 

"  He  must  have  a  name  of  his  own,"  said  Captain  Pennel. 
"  Come  here,  sonny,"  he  called  to  the  child,  who  was  playing 
just  beside  the  door. 

The  child  lowered  his  head,  shook  down  his  long  black 
curls,  and  looked  through  them  as  elfishly  as  a  Skye  terrier, 
but  showed  no  inclination  to  come. 

"  One  thing  he  has  n't  learned,  evidently,"  said  Captain 
Pennel,  "and  that  is  to  mind." 

"  Here ! "  he  said,  turning  to  the  boy  with  a  little  of  the 
tone  he  had  used  of  old  on  the  quarter-deck,  and  taking  his 
small  hand  firmly. 

The  child  surrendered,  and  let  the  good  man  lift  him  on 
his  knee  and  stroke  aside  the  clustering  curls ;  the  boy  then 
looked  fixedly  at  him  with  his  great  gloomy  black  eyes,  his 
little  firm-set  mouth  and  bridled  chin,  —  a  perfect  little 
miniature  of  proud  manliness. 

"  What 's  your  name,  little  boy  ?  " 

The  great  eyes  continued  looking  in  the  same  solemn 
quiet. 

"  Law,  he  don't  understand  a  word,"  said  Zephaniah,  put' 
ting  his  hand  kindly  on  the  child's  head ;  "  our  tongue  is  all 
strange  to  him.  Kittridge  says  he 's  a  Spanish  child ;  may- 


THE    PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  87 

be  from  the  West  Indies;  but  nobody  knows,  —  we  never 
shall  know  his  name." 

"  Well,  I  dare  say  it  was  some  Popish  nonsense  or  other," 
said  Aunt  Ruey ;  "  and  now  he  's  come  to  a  land  of  Christian 
privileges,  we  ought  to  give  him  a  good  Scripture  name,  and 
start  him  well  in  the  world." 

"Let's  call  him  Moses,"  said  Zephaniah,  "because  we 
drew  him  out  of  the  water." 

"  Now,  did  I  ever ! "  said  Miss  Ruey ;  "  there 's  some 
thing  in  the  Bible  to  fit  everything,  a'n't  there  ? " 

"  I  like  Moses,  because  I  had  a  brother  of  that  name," 
said  Mrs.  Fennel. 

The  child  had  slid  down  from  his  protector's  knee,  and 
stood  looking  from  one  to  the  other  gravely  while  this  dis 
cussion  was  going  on. 

What  change  of  destiny  was  then  going  on  for  him  in  this 
simple  formula  of  adoption,  none  could  tell ;  but,  surely, 
never  orphan  stranded  on  a  foreign  shore  found  home  with 
hearts  more  true  and  loving. 

"  Well,  wife,  I  suppose  we  must  be  goin',"  said  Zepha 
niah. 

About  a  stone's  throw  from  the  open  door,  the  little  fish 
ing-craft  lay  courtesying  daintily  on  the  small  tide-waves 
that  came  licking  up  the  white  pebbly  shore. 

Mrs.  Fennel  seated  herself  in  the  end  of  the  boat,  and  a 
pretty  placid  picture  she  was,  with  her  smooth,  parted  hair, 
her  modest,  cool,  drab  bonnet,  and  her  bright  hazel  eyes,  in 
which  was  the  Sabbath  calm  of  a  loving  and  tender  heart. 

Zephaniah  loosed  the  sail,  and  the  two  children  stood  on 
the  beach  and  saw  them  go  off.  A  pleasant  little  wind  car 
ried  them  away,  and  back  on  the  breeze  came  the  sound 
of  Zephaniah's  Sunday-morning  psalm  :  — 


I 


88  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"Lord,  in  the  morning  thou  shalt  hear 

My  voice  ascending  high  — 
To  thee  will  I  direct  my  prayer, 

To  thee  lift  up  mine  eye; 
Unto  thy  house  will  I  resort, 

To  taste  thy  mercies  there; 
I  will  frequent  thy  holy  court, 

And  worship  in  thy  fear." 

The  surface  of  the  glassy  bay  was  dotted  here  and  there 
with  the  white  sails  of  other  little  craft  bound  for  the  same 
point  and  for  the  same  purpose.  It  was  as  pleasant  a  sight 
as  one  might  wish  to  see. 

Left  in  charge  of  the  house,  Miss  Ruey  drew  a  long 
breath,  took  a  consoling  pinch  of  snuff,  sang  "  Bridge- 
water  "  in  an  uncommonly  high  key,  and  then  began  read 
ing  in  the  prophecies. 

With  her  good  head  full  of  the  "  daughter  of  Zion  "  and 
the  house  of  Israel  and  Judah,  she  was  recalled  to  terrestrial 
things  by  loud  screams  from  the  barn,  accompanied  by  a 
general  flutter  and  cackling  among  the  hens. 

Away  plodded  the  good  soul,  and  opening  the  barn-door 
saw  the  little  boy  perched  on  the  top  of  the  hay-mow, 
screaming  and  shrieking,  —  his  face  the  picture  of  dismay, — 
while  poor  little  Mara's  cries  came  in  a  more  muffled  manner 
from  some  unexplored  lower  region.  In  fact,  she  was  found 
to  have  slipped  through  a  hole  in  the  hay-mow  into  the 
nest  of  a  very  domestic  sitting-hen,  whose  clamors  at  the 
invasion  of  her  family  privacy  added  no  little  to  the  general 
confusion. 

The  little  princess,  whose  nicety  as  to  her  dress  and  sen 
sitiveness  as  to  anything  unpleasant  about  her  pretty  person 
we  have  seen,  was  lifted  up  streaming  with  tears  and  broken 
eggs,  but  otherwise  not  seriously  injured,  having  fallen  on 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  89 

the  very  substantial  substratum  of  hay  which  Dame  Poulet 
had  selected  as  the  foundation  of  her  domestic  hopes. 

"  Well,  now,  did  I  ever  !  "  said  Miss  Ruey,  when  she  had 
ascertained  that  no  bones  were  broken  ;  "  if  that  ar  young 
un  is  n't  a  limb !  I  declare  for  't  I  pity  Mis'  Fennel,  - 
she  don't  know  what  she's  undertook.  How  upon  'arth 
the  critter  managed  to  get  Mara  on  to  the  hay,  I  'm  sure  I 
can't  tell,  —  that  ar  little  thing  never  got  into  no  such 
scrapes  before." 

Far  from  seeming  impressed  with  any  wholesome  remorse 
of  conscience,  the  little  culprit  frowned  fierce  defiance  at 
Miss  Ruey,  when,  after  having  repaired  the  damages  of 
little  Mara's  toilet,  she  essayed  the  good  old  plan  of  shut 
ting  him  into  the  closet.  He  fought  and  struggled  so 
fiercely  that  Aunt  Ruey's  carroty  frisette  came  off"  in  the 
skirmish,  and  her  head-gear,  always  rather  original,  assumed 
an  aspect  verging  on  the  supernatural. 

Miss  Ruey  thought  of  Philistines  and  Moabites,  and  all 
the  other  terrible  people  she  had  been  reading  about  that 
morning,  and  came  as  near  getting  into  a  passion  with  the 
little  elf  as  so  good-humored  and  Christian  an  old  body 
could  possibly  do.  Human  virtue  is  frail,  and  every  one 
has  some  vulnerable  point.  The  old  Roman  senator  could 
not  control  himself  when  his  beard  was  invaded,  and  the 
like  sensitiveness  resides  in  an  old  woman's  cap  ;  and  when 
young  master  irreverently  clawed  off  her  Sunday  best,  Aunt 
Ruey,  in  her  confusion  of  mind,  administered  a  sound  cuff 
on  either  ear. 

Little  Mara,  who  had  screamed  loudly  through  the  whole 
scene,  now  conceiving  that  her  precious  new-found  treasure 
was  endangered,  flew  at  poor  Miss  Ruey  with  both  little 
hands  ;  and  throwing  her  arms  round  her  "  boy,"  as  she 


90  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

constantly  called  him,  she  drew  him  backward,  and  looked 
defiance  at  the  common  enemy.  Miss  Ruey  was  dumb 
struck. 

"  I  declare  for  %  I  b'lieve  he  'a  bewitched  her,"  she  said, 
stupefied,  having  never  seen  anything  like  the  martial  ex 
pression  which  now  gleamed  from  those  soft  brown  eyes. 
"  Why,  Mara  dear,  —  putty  little  Mara." 

But  Mara  was  busy  wiping  away  the  angry  tears  that 
stood  on  the  hot,  glowing  cheeks  of  the  boy,  and  offering  her 
little  rose-bud  of  a  mouth  to  kiss  him,  as  she  stood  on  tiptoe. 

"  Poor  boy,  —  no  kie,  —  Mara's  boy,"  she  said,  —  "  Mara 
love  boy  ; "  and  then  giving  an  angry  glance  at  Aunt  Ruey, 
who  sat  much  disheartened  and  confused,  she  struck  out  her 
little  pearly  hand,  and  cried,  "  Go  way,  —  go  way,  naughty!  " 

The  child  jabbered  unintelligibly  and  earnestly  to  Mara, 
and  she  seemed  to  have  the  air  of  being  perfectly  satisfied 
with  his  view  of  the  case,  and  both  regarded  Miss  Ruey 
with  frowning  looks. 

Under  these  peculiar  circumstances,  the  good  soul  began 
to  bethink  her  of  some  mode  of  compromise,  and  going  to 
the  closet  took  out  a  couple  of  slices  of  cake,  which  she 
offered  to  the  little  rebels  with  pacificatory  words. 

Mara  was  appeased  at  once,  and  ran  to  Aunt  Ruey ;  but 
the  boy  struck  the  cake  out  of  her  hand,  and  looked  at  her 
with  steady  defiance.  The  little  one  picked  it  up,  and  with 
much  chippering  and  many  little  feminine  manoeuvres,  at 
last  succeeded  in  making  him  taste  it,  after  which  appetite 
got  the  better  of  his  valorous  resolutions,  —  he  ate  and  was 
comforted  ;  and  after  a  little  time,  the  three  were  on  the 
best  possible  footing.  And  Miss  Ruey  having  smoothed  her 
hair,  and  arranged  her  frisette  and  cap,  began  to  reflect 
upon  herself  as  the  cause  of  the  whole  disturbance.  If 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  91 

she  had  not  let  them  run  while  she  indulged  in  reading 
and  singing,  this  would  not  have  happened.  So  the  toil 
ful  good  soul  kept  them  at  her  knee  for  the  next  hour 
or  two,  while  they  looked  through  all  the  pictures  in  the 

old  family  Bible. 

******  * 

The  evening  of  that  day  witnessed  a  crowded  funeral  in 
the  small  rooms  of  Captain  Kittridge.  Mrs.  Kittridge  was 
in  her  glory.  Solemn  and  lugubrious  to  the  last  degree, 
she  supplied  in  her  own  proper  person  the  want  of  the 
whole  corps  of  mourners,  who  generally  attract  sympathy 
on  such  occasions. 

But  what  drew  artless  pity  from  all  was  the  unconscious 
orphan,  who  came  in,  led  by  Mrs.  Fennel  by  the  one  hand, 
and  with  the  little  Mara  by  the  other. 

The  simple  rite  of  baptism  administered  to  the  wondering 
little  creature  so  strongly  recalled  that  other  scene  three 
years  before,  that  Mrs.  Fennel  hid  her  face  in  her  handker 
chief,  and  Zephaniah's  firm  hand  shook  a  little  as  he  took 
the  boy  to  offer  him  to  the  rite.  The  child  received  the 
ceremony  with  a  look  of  grave  surprise,  put  up  his  hand 
quickly  and  wiped  the  holy  drops  from  his  brow,  as  if  they 
annoyed  him  ;  and  shrinking  back,  seized  hold  of  the  gown 
of  Mrs.  Fennel.  His  great  beauty,  and,  still  more,  the  air 
of  haughty,  defiant  firmness  with  which  he  regarded  the 
company,  drew  all  eyes,  and  many  were  the  whispered 
comments. 

"  Fennel  '11  have  his  hands  full  with  that  ar  chap,"  said 
Captain  Kittridge  to  Miss  Roxy. 

Mrs.  Kittridge  darted  an  admonitory  glance  at  her  hus 
band,  to  remind  him  that  she  was  looking  at  him,  and  im 
mediately  he  collapsed  into  solemnity. 


92  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

The  evening  sunbeams  slanted  over  the  blackberry  bushes 
and  mullein  stalks  of  the  graveyard,  when  the  lonely  voy 
ager  was  lowered  to  the  rest  from  which  she  should  not  rise 
till  the  heavens  be  no  more.  As  the  purple  sea  at  that 
hour  retained  no  trace  of  the  ships  that  had  furrowed  its 
waves,  so  of  this  mortal  traveller  no  trace  remained,  not 
even  in  that  infant  soul  that  was  to  her  so  passionately 
dear. 


THE   PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  93 


CHAPTER  X. 

MRS.  KITTRIDGE'S  advantages  and  immunities  resulting 
from  the  shipwreck  were  not  yet  at  an  end.  Not  only  had 
one  of  the  most  "  solemn  providences "  known  within  the 
memory  of  the  neighborhood  fallen  out  at  her  door,  —  not 
only  had  the  most  interesting  funeral  that  had  occurred  for 
three  or  four  years  taken  place  in  her  parlor,  but  she  was 
still  further  to  be  distinguished  in  having  the  minister  to  tea 
after  the  performances  were  all  over.  To  this  end  she  had 
risen  early,  and  taken  down  her  best  china  tea-cups,  which 
had  been  marked  with  her  and  her  husband's  joint  initials 
in  Canton,  and  which  only  came  forth  on  high  and  solemn 
occasions.  In  view  of  this  probable  distinction,  on  Satur 
day,  immediately  after  the  discovery  of  the  calamity,  Mrs. 
Kittridge  had  found  time  to  rush  to  her  kitchen,  and  make 
up  a  loaf  of  pound-cake  and  some  doughnuts,  that  the  great 
occasion  which  she  foresaw  might  not  find  her  below  her 
reputation  as  a  forehanded  housewife. 

It  was  a  fine  golden  hour  when  the  minister  and  funeral 
train  turned  away  from  the  grave.  Unlike  other  funerals, 
there  was  no  draught  on  the  sympathies  in  favor  of  mourners 
—  no  wife,  or  husband,  or  parent,  left  a  heart  in  that  grave  ; 
and  so  when  the  rites  were  all  over,  they  turned  with  the 
more  cheerfulness  back  into  "life,  from  the  contrast  of  its 
freshness  with  those  shadows  into  which,  for  the  hour,  they 
had  been  gazing. 


94  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND. 

The  Rev.  Theophilus  Sewell  was  one  of  the  few  ministers 
who  preserved  the  costume  of  a  former  generation,  with 
something  of  that  imposing  dignity  with  which,  in  earlier 
times,  the  habits  of  the  clergy  were  invested. 

He  was  tall  and  majestic  in  stature,  and  carried  to  advan 
tage  the  powdered  wig  and  three-cornered  hat,  the  broad- 
skirted  coat,  knee-breeches,  high  shoes,  and  plated  buckles 
of  the  ancient  costume.  There  was  just  a  sufficient  degree 
of  the  formality  of  olden  times  to  give  a  certain  quaintness 
to  all  he  said  and  did.  He  was  a  man  of  a  considerable  de 
gree  of  talent,  force,  and  originality,  and  in  fact  had  been 
held  in  his  day  to  be  one  of  the  most  promising  graduates 
of  Harvard  University. 

But,  being  a  good  man,  he  had  proposed  to  himself  no 
higher  ambition  than  to  succeed  to  the  pulpit  of  his  father 
in  Harpswell. 

His  parish  included  not  only  a  somewhat  scattered  sea 
faring  population  on  the  main-land,  but  also  the  care  of 
several  islands.  Like  many  other  of  the  New  England 
clergy  of  those  times,  he  united  in  himself  numerous  dif 
ferent  offices  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  whom  he  served. 

As  there  was  neither  lawyer  nor  physician  in  the  town, 
he  had  acquired  by  his  reading,  and  still  more  by  his  expe 
rience,  enough  knowledge  in  both  these  departments  to 
enable  him  to  administer  to  the  ordinary  wants  of  a  very 
healthy  and  peaceable  people. 

It  was  said  that  most  of  the  deeds  and  legal  conveyances 
in  his  parish  were  in  his  handwriting,  and  in  the  medical 
line  his  authority  was  only  rivalled  by  that  of  Miss  Roxy, 
who  claimed  a  very  obvious  advantage  over  him  in  a  certain 
class  of  cases,  from  the  fact  of  her  being  a  woman,  which 
was  still  further  increased  by  the  circumstance  that  the  good 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  95 

man  had  retained  steadfastly  his  bachelor  estate ;  "  so,  of 
course,"  Miss  Roxy  used  to  say,  "  poor  man  !  what  could  he 
know  about  a  woman,  you  know  ? " 

This  state  of  bachelorhood  gave  occasion  to  much  surmis 
ing  ;  but  when  spoken  to  about  it,  he  was  accustomed  to 
remark  with  gallantry,  that  he  should  have  too  much  regard 
for  any  lady  whom  he  could  think  of  as  a  wife,  to  ask  her  to 
share  his  straitened  circumstances. 

.  His  income,  indeed,  consisted  of  only  about  two  hundred 
dollars  a  year ;  but  upon  this  he  and  a  very  brisk,  cheerful 
maiden  sister  contrived  to  keep  up  a  thrifty  and  comfortable 
establishment,  in  which  everything  appeared  to  be  pervaded 
by  a  spirit  of  quaint  cheerfulness. 

In  fact,  the  man  might  be  seen  to  be  an  original  in  his 
way,  and  all  the  springs  of  his  life  were  kept  oiled  by  a 
quiet  humor,  which  sometimes  broke  out  in  playful  sparkles, 
despite  the  gravity  of  the  pulpit  and  the  awfulness  of  the 
cocked  hat. 

He  had  a  placid  way  of  amusing  himself  with  the  quaint 
and  picturesque  side  of  life,  as  it  appeared  in  all  his  visit- 
ings  among  a  very  primitive,  yet  very  shrewd-minded  peo- 
pie. 

There  are  those  people  who  possess  a  peculiar  faculty  of 
mingling  in  the  affairs  of  this  life  as  spectators  as  well  as 
actors.  It  does  not,  of  course,  suppose  any  coldness  of 
nature  or  want  of  human  interest  or  sympathy  —  nay,  it 
often  exists  most  completely  with  people  of  the  tenderest 
human  feeling. 

It  rather  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  distinct  faculty  working 
harmoniously  with  all  the  others  ;  but  he  who  possesses  it 
needs  never  to  be  at  a  loss  for  interest  or  amusement ;  he  is 
always  a  spectator  at  a  tragedy  or  comedy,  and  sees  in  real 


96  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

life  a  humor  and  a  pathos   beyond  anything  he    can  find 
shadowed  in  books. 

Mr.  Sewell  sometimes,  in  his  pastoral  visitations,  took  a 
quiet  pleasure  in  playing  upon  these  simple  minds,  and 
amusing  himself  with  the  odd  harmonies  and  singular  reso 
lutions  of  chords  which  started  out  under  his  fingers.  Sure 
ly  he  had  a  right  to  something  in  addition  to  his  limited  sal 
ary,  and  this  innocent,  unsuspected  entertainment  helped  to 
make  up  the  balance  for  his  many  labors, 
x  His  sister  was  one  of  the  best-hearted  and  most  unsus- 
jpicious  of  the  class  of  female  idolaters,  and  worshipped  her 
brother  with  the  most  undoubting  faith  and  devotion  — 
wholly  ignorant  of  the  constant  amusement  she  gave  him 
by  a  thousand  little  feminine  peculiarities,  which  struck  him 
writh  a  continual  sense  of  oddity.  It  was  infinitely  diverting 
to  him  to  see  the  solemnity  of  her  interest  in  his  shirts  and 
stockings,  and  Sunday  clothes,  and  to  listen  to  the  subtile 
distinctions  which  she  would  draw  between  best  and  second- 
best,  and  every  day ;  to  receive  her  somewhat  prolix  admo 
nition  how  he  was  to  demean  himself  in  respect  of  the  wear 
ing  of  each  one ;  for  Miss  Emily  Sewell  was  a  gentlewoman, 
and  held  rigidly  to  various  traditions  of  gentility  which  had 
been  handed  down  in  the  Sewell  family,  and  which  afforded 
her  brother  too  much  quiet  amusement  to  be  disturbed.  He 
would  not  have  overthrown  one  of  her  quiddities  for  the 
world  ;  it  would  be  taking  away  a  part  of  his  capital  in 
existence. 

Miss  Emily  was  a  trim,  genteel  little  person,  with  dancing 
black  eyes,  and  cheeks  which  had  the  roses  of  youth  well 
dried  into  them.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  she  had  been  quite 
pretty  in  her  days ;  and  her  neat  figure,  her  brisk  little 
vivacious  ways,  her  unceasing  good-nature  and  kindness  of 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.          97 

heart,  still  made  her  an  object  both  of  admiration  and  inter 
est  in  the  parish. 

She  was  great  in  drying  herbs  and  preparing  recipes  ;  in 
knitting  and  sewing,  and  cutting  and  contriving;  in  saving 
every  possible  snip  and  chip  either  of  food  or  clothing ;  and 
no  less  liberal  was  she  in  bestowing  advice  and  aid  in  the 
parish,  where  she  moved  about  with  all  the  sense  of  conse 
quence  which  her  brother's  position  warranted. 

The  fact  of  his  bachelorhood  caused  his  relations  to  the 
.female  part  of  his  flock  to  be  even  more  shrouded  in  sacred- 
ness  and  mystery  than  is  commonly  the  case  with  the  great 
man  of  the  parish ;  but  Miss  Emily  delighted  to  act  as  in 
terpreter.  She  was  charmed  to  serve  out  to  the  willing  ears 
of  his  parish  from  time  to  time  such  scraps  of  information 
as  regarded  his  life,  habits,  and  opinions  as  might  gratify 
their  ever  new  curiosity. 

Instructed  by  her,  all  the  good  wives  knew  the  difference 
between  his  very  best  long  silk  stockings  and  his  second 
best,  and  how  carefully  the  first  had  to  be  kept  under  lock 
and  key,  where  he  could  not  get  at  them  ;  for  he  was  under 
stood,  good  as  he  was,  to  have  concealed  in  him  all  the 
thriftless  and  pernicious  inconsiderateness  of  the  male 
nature,  ready  at  any  moment  to  break  out  into  unheard-of 
improprieties.  But  the  good  man  submitted  himself  to  Miss 
Emily's  rule,  and  suffered  himself  to  be  led  about  by  her 
with  an  air  of  half  whimsical  consciousness. 

Mrs.  Kittridge  that  day  had  felt  the  full  delicacy  of  the 
compliment  when  she  ascertained  by  a  hasty  glance,  before 
the  first  prayer,  that  the  good  man  had  been  brought  out  to 
her  funeral  in  all  his  very  best  things,  not  excepting  the 
long  silk  stockings,  for  she  knew  the  second-best  pair  by 
means  of  a  certain  skilful  darn  which  Miss  Emily  had  once 
5  - 


98  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

shown  her,  which  commemorated  the  spot  where  a  hole  had 
been.  The  absence  of  this  darn  struck  to  Mrs.  Kittridge's 
heart  at  once  as  a  delicate  attention. 

"  Mis'  Simpkins,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge  to  her  pastor,  as 
they  were  seated  at  the  tea-table,  "  told  me  that  she  wished 
when  you  were  going  home  that  you  would  call  in  to  see 
Mary  Jane  —  she  could  n't  come  out  to  the  funeral  on  ac 
count  of  a  dreffle  sore  throat.  I  was  tellin'  on  her  to  gargle 
it  with  blackberry-root  tea  —  don't  you  think  that  is  a  good 
gargle,  Mr.  Sewell  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  think  it  a  very  good  gargle,"  replied  the  minister, 
gravely. 

"  Ma'sh  rosemary  is  the  gargle  that  I  always  use,"  said 
Miss  Roxy ;  "  it  cleans  out  your  throat  so." 

"Marsh  rosemary  is  a  very  excellent  gargle,"  said  Mr. 
Sewell. 

"  Why,  brother,  don't  you  think  that  rose  leaves  and  vit 
riol  is  a  good  gargle  ?  "  said  little  Miss  Emily ;  "  I  always 
thought  that  you  liked  rose  leaves  and  vitriol  for  a  gargle." 

"  So  I  do,"  said  the  imperturbable  Mr.  Sewell,  drinking 
his  tea  with  the  air  of  a  sphinx. 

"  Well,  now,  you  '11  have  to  tell  which  on  'em  will  be  most 
likely  to  cure  Mary  Jane,"  said  Captain  Kittridge,  "  or 
there  '11  be  a  pullin'  of  caps,  I  'm  thinkin' ;  or  else  the  poor 
girl  will  have  to  drink  them  all,  which  is  generally  the 
way." 

"  There  won't  any  of  them  cure  Mary  Jane's  throat," 
said  the  minister,  quietly. 

"Why,  brother!"  "Why,  Mr.  Sewell!"  "Why,  you 
don't!"  burst  in  different  tones  from  each  of  the  women. 

"  I  thought  you  said  that  blackberry-root  tea  was  good," 
said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  99 

"  I  understood  that  you  'proved  of  ma'sh  rosemary,"  said 
Miss  Roxy,  touched  in  her  professional  pride. 

"  And  I  am  sure,  brother,  that  I  have  heard  you  say, 
often  and  often,  that  there  was  n't  a  better  gargle  than 
rose  leaves  and  vitriol,"  said  Miss  Emily. 

"  You  are  quite  right,  ladies,  all  of  you.  I  think  these 
are  all  good  gargles  —  excellent  ones." 

"  But  I  thought  you  said  that  they  did  n?t  do  any  good  ?  " 
said  all  the  ladies  in  a  breath. 

"  No,  they  don't  —  not  the  least  in  the  world,"  said  Mr. 
Sewell ;  "  but  they  are  all  excellent  gargles,  and  as  long  as 
people  must  have  gargles,  I  think  one  is  about  as  good  as 
another." 

"  Now  you  have  got  it,"  said  Captain  Kittridge. 

"  Brother,  you  do  say  the  strangest  things,"  said  Miss 
Emily. 

"  Well,  I  must  say,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  it  is  a  new  idea 
to  me,  long  as  I  Ve  been  nussin',  and  I  nussed  through  one 
season  of  scarlet  fever  when  sometimes  there  was  five  died 
in  one  house  ;  and  if  ma'sh  rosemary  did  n't  do  good  then, 
I  should  like  to  know  what  did." 

"  So  would  a  good  many  others,"  said  the  minister. 

"  Law,  now,  Miss  Roxy,  you  mus'  n't  mind  him.  Do  you 
know  that  I  believe  he  says  these  sort  of  things  just  to  hear 
us  talk  ?  Of  course  he  would  n't  think  of  puttin'  his  experi 
ence  against  yours." 

"  But,  Mis'  Kittridge,"  said  Miss  Emily,  with  a  view  of 
summoning  a  less  controverted  subject,  "  what  a  beautiful 
little  boy  that  was,  and  what  a  striking  providence  that 
brought  him  into  such  a  good  family  ! " 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge ;  "  but  I  'm  sure  I  don't  see 
what  Mary  Fennel  is  goin'  to  do  with  that  boy,  for  she  a'n't 
got  no  more  government  than  a  twisted  tow-string." 


100  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Oh,  the  Cap'n,  he  '11  lend  a  hand,"  said  Miss  Roxy ; 
"  it  won't  be  easy  gettin'  roun'  him ;  Cap'n  bears  a  pretty 
steady  hand  when  he  sets  out  to  drive." 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Emily,  "  I  do  think  that  bringin'  up 
children  is  the  most  awful  responsibility,  and  I  always  won 
der  when  I  hear  that  any  one  dares  to  undertake  it." 

"  It  requires  a  great  deal  of  resolution,  certainly,"  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge  ;  "  I  'm  sure  I  used  to  get  a'most  discouraged 
when  my  boys  was  young :  they  was  a  reg'lar  set  of  wild 
ass's  colts,"  she  added,  not  perceiving  the  reflection  on  their 
paternity. 

But  the  countenance  of  Mr.  Sewell  was  all  aglow  with 
merriment,  which  did  not  break  into  a  smile. 

"Wai',  Mis'  Kittridge,"  said  the  Captain,  "strikes  me 
that  you  're  gettin'  pussonal." 

"  No,  I  a'n't  neither,"  said  the  literal  Mrs.  Kittridge, 
ignorant  of  the  cause  of  the  amusement  which  she  saw 
around  her ;  "  but  you  wa'  n't  no  help  to  me,  you  know ; 
you  was  always  off  to  sea,  and  the  whole  wear  and  tear 
on 't  came  on  me." 

"  Well,  well,  Polly,  all 's  well  that  ends  well ;  don't  you 
think  so,  Mr.  Sewell?" 

"  I  have  n't  much  experience  in  these  matters,"  said  Mr. 
Sewell,  politely. 

"  No,  indeed,  that 's  what  he  has  n't,  for  he  never  will 
have  a  child  round  the  house  that  he  don't  turn  everything 
topsy-turvy  for  them,"  said  Miss  Emily. 

"  But  I  was  going  to  remark,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  "  that  a 
friend  of  mine  said  once,  that  the  woman  that  had  brought 
up  six  boys  deserved  a  seat  among  the  martyrs  —  and  that 
is  rather  my  opinion." 

"  Wai',  Polly,  if  you  git  up  there,  I  hope  you  '11  keep  a 
seat  for  me." 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S  ISLAND.  101 

"  Cap'n  Kittridge,  what  levity!  "  said  his*  wife. 

"  I  did  n't  begin  it,  anyhow,"  said  the  Captain. 

Miss  Emily  interposed,  and  led  the  conversation  back  to 
the  subject. 

"  What  a  pity  it  is,"  she  said,  "  that  this  poor  child's 
family  can  never  know  anything  about  him.  There  may 
be  those  who  would  give  all  the  world  to  know  what  has 
bec,ome  of  him ;  and  when  he  comes  to  grow  up,  how  sad 
he  will  feel  to  have  no  father  and  mother ! " 

"  Sister,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  "  you  cannot  think  that  a  child 
brought  up  by  Captain  Fennel  and  his  wife  would  ever  feel 
as  without  father  and  mother." 

"  Why,  no,  brother,  to  be  sure  not.  There 's  no  doubt  he 
will  have  everything  done  for  him  that  a  child  could.  But 
then  it's  a  loss  to  lose  one's  real  home." 

"  It  may  be  a  gracious  deliverance,"  said  Mr.  Sewell  — 
"  who  knows  ?  We  may  as  well  take  a  cheerful  view,  and 
think  that  some  kind  wave  has  drifted  the  child  away  from 
an  unfortunate  destiny  to  a  family  where  we  are  quite  sure 
he  will  be  brought  up  industriously  and  soberly,  and  in  the 
fear  of  God." 

"  Well,  I  never  thought  of  that,"  said  Miss  Roxy. 

Miss  Emily,  looking  at  her  brother,  saw  that  he  was 
speaking  with  a  suppressed  vehemence,  as  if  some  inner 
fountain  of  recollection  at  the  moment  were  disturbed.  But 
Miss  Emily  knew  no  more  of  the  deeper  parts  of  her 
brother's  nature  than  a  little  bird  that  dips  its  beak  into  the 
sunny  waters  of  some  spring  knows  of  its  depths  of  cold 
ness  and  shadow. 

"  Mis'  Pennel  was  a-sayin'  to  me,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge, 
"  that  I  should  ask  you  what  was  to  be  done  about  the 
bracelet  they  found.  We  don't  know  whether  't  is  real  gold 


102  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

and  precious  stones,  or  only  glass  and  pinchbeck.  Cap'n. 
Kittridge  he  thinks  it 's  real ;  and  if  't  is,  why  then  the  ques 
tion  is,  whether  or  no  to  try  to  sell  it,  or  to  keep  it  for  the 
boy  agin  he  grows  up.  It  may  help  find  out  who  and  what 
he  is." 

"  And  why  should  he  want  to  find  out  ?  "  said  Mr.  Sewell. 
"BWhy  should  he  not  grow  up  and  think  himself  the  son  of 
Captain  and  Mrs.  Fennel  ?  What  better  lot  could  a  boy  be 
born  to?" 

"That  may  be,  brother,  but  it  can't  be  kept  from  him. 
Everybody  knows  how  he  was  found,  and  you  may  be  sure 
every  bird  of  the  air  will  tell  him,  and  he  '11  grow  up  restless 
and  wanting  to  know.  Mis'  Kittridge,  have  you  got  the 
bracelet  handy  ?  " 

The  fact  was,  little  Miss  Emily  was  just  dying  with  curi 
osity  to  set  her  dancing  black  eyes  upon  it. 

"  Here  it  is,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  taking  it  from  a 
drawer. 

It  was  a  bracelet  of  hair,  of  some  curious  foreign  work 
manship.  A  green  enamelled  serpent,  studded  thickly  with 
emeralds  and  with  eyes  of  ruby,  was  curled  around  the 
clasp.  A  crystal  plate  covered  a  wide  flat  braid  of  hair,  on 
which  the  letters  "  D.  M."  were  curiously  embroidered  in  a 
cipher  of  seed  pearls.  The  whole  was  in  style  and  work 
manship  quite  different  from  any  jewelry  which  ordinarily 
meets  one's  eye. 

But  what  was  remarkable  was  the  expression  in  Mr. 
Sewell's  face  when  this  bracelet  was  put  into  his  hand. 
Miss  Emily  had  risen  from  table  and  brought  it  to  him, 
leaning  over  him  as  she  did  so,  and  he  turned  his  head  a 
little  to  hold  it  in  the  light  from  the  window,  so  that  only 
she  remarked  the  sudden  expression  of  blank  surprise  and 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  103 

startled  recognition  which  fell  upon  it.  He  seemed  like  a 
man  who  chokes  down  an  exclamation  ;  and  rising  hastily, 
he  took  the  bracelet  to  the  window,  and  standing  with  his 
back  to  the  company,  seemed  to  examine  it  with  the  minut 
est  interest.  After  a  few  moments  he  turned  and  said,  in  a 
very  composed  tone,  as  if  the  subject  were  of  no  particular 
interest,  — 

"It  is  a  singular  article,  so  far  as  workmanship  is  con 
cerned.  The  value  of  the  gems  in  themselves  is  not  great 
enough  to  make  it  worth  while  to  sell  it.  It  will  be  worth 
more  as  a  curiosity  than  anything  else.  It  will  doubtless  be 
an  interesting  relic  to  keep  for  the  boy  when  he  grows  up." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Sewell,  you  keep  it,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge ; 
'•'  the  Fennels  told  rne  to  give  it  into  your  care." 

"  I  shall  commit  it  to  Emily  here  ;  women  have  a  native 
sympathy  with  anything  in  the  jewelry  line.  She  '11  be 
sure  to  lay  it  up  so  securely  that  she  won't  even  know 
where  it  is  herself." 

«  Brother ! " 

"  Come,  Emily,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  "  your  hens  will  all  go 
to  roost  on  the  wrong  perch  if  you  are  not  at  home  to  see 
to  them  ;  so,  if  the  Captain  will  set  us  across  to  Harpswell, 
I  think  we  may  as  well  be  going." 

"  Why,  what 's  your  hurry  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  "  firstly,  there  's  the  hens  ;  sec 
ondly,  the  pigs  ;  and  lastly,  the  cow.  Besides  I  should  n't 
wonder  if  some  of  Emily's  admirers  should  call  on  her  this 
evening,  —  never  any  saying  when  Captain  Broad  may 
come  in." 

"  Now,  brother,  you  are  too  bad,"  said  Miss  Emily,  as  she 
bustled  about  her  bonnet  and  shawl.  "Now,  that 's  all  made 
jp  out  of  whole  cloth.  Captain  Broad  called  last  week 


104  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

a  Monday,  to  talk  to  you  about  the  pews,  and  hardly  spoke 
a  word  to  me.  You  ought  n't  to  say  such  things,  'cause  it 
raises  reports." 

"  Ah,  well,  then,  I  won't  again,"  said  her  brother.  "  I 
believe,  after  all,  it  was  Captain  Badger  that  called  twice.' 

«  Brother ! " 

"  And  left  you  a  basket  of  apples  the  second  time." 

"  Brother,  you  know  he  only  called  to  get  some  of  my 
hoarhound  for  Mehitable's  cough." 

"  Oh,  yes,  I  remember." 

"  If  you  don't  take  care,"  said  Miss  Emily,  "  I  '11  tell 
where  you  call." 

"  Come,  Miss  Emily,  you  must  not  mind  him,"  said  Miss 
Roxy ;  "  we  all  know  his  ways." 

And  now  took  place  the  grand  leave-taking,  which  con 
sisted  first  of  the  three  women's  standing  in  a  knot  and  all 
talking  at  once,  as  if  their  very  lives  depended  upon  saying 
everything  they  could  possibly  think  of  before  they  separat 
ed,  while  Mr.  Sewell  and  Captain  Kittridge  stood  patiently 
waiting  with  the  resigned  air  which  the  male  sex  commonly 
assume  on  such  occasions ;  and  when,  after  two  or  three 
"  Come,  Emily's,"  the  group  broke  up  only  to  form  again  on 
the  door-step,  where  they  were  at  it  harder  than  ever,  and 
a  third  occasion  of  the  same  sort  took  place  at  the  bottom 
of  the  steps,  Mr.  Sewell  was  at  last  obliged  by  main  force 
to  drag  his  sister  away  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence. 

Miss  Emily  watched  her  brother  shrewdly  all  the  way 
home,  but  all  traces  of  any  uncommon  feeling  had  passed 
away,  —  and  yet,  with  the  restlessness  of  female  curiosity, 
she  felt  quite  sure  that  she  had  laid  hold  of  the  end  of 
some  skein  of  mystery,  could  she  only  find  skill  enough 
to  unwind  it. 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  105 

She  took  up  the  bracelet,  and  held  it  in  the  fading  even 
ing  light,  and  broke  into  various  observations  with  regard 
to  the  singularity  of  the  workmanship. 

Her  brother  seemed  entirely  absorbed  in  talking  with 
Captain  Kittridge  about  the  brig  Anna  Maria,  which  was 
going  to  be  launched  from  Fennel's  wharf  next  Wednes 
day. 

But  she,  therefore,  internally  resolved  to  lie  in  wait  for 
the  secret  in  that  confidential  hour  which  usually  preceded 
going  to  bed. 

Therefore,  as  soon  as  she  had  arrived  at  their  quiet  dwell 
ing,  she  put  in  operation  the  most  seducing  little  fire  that 
ever  crackled  and  snapped  in  a  chimney,  well  knowing  that 
nothing  was  more  calculated  to  throw  light  into  any  hidden 
or  concealed  chamber  of  the  soul  than  that  enlivening  blaze 
which  danced  so  merrily  on  her  well-polished  andirons,  and 
made  the  old  chintz  sofa  and  the  time-worn  furniture  so  rich 
in  remembrances  of  family  comfort. 

She  then  proceeded  to  divest  her  brother  of  his  wig  and 
his  dress-coat,  and  to  induct  him  into  the  flowing  ease  of  a 
study-gown,  crowning  his  well-shaven  head  with  a  black  cap, 
and  placing  his  slippers  before  the  corner  of  a  sofa  nearest 
the  fire.  She  observed  him  with  satisfaction  sliding  into  his 
seat,  and  then  she  trotted  to  a  closet  with  a  glass-door  in  the 
corner  of  the  room,  and  took  down  an  old,  quaintly-shaped 
silver  cup,  which  had  been  an  heirloom  in  their  family,  and 
was  the  only  piece  of  plate  which  their  modern  domestic 
establishment  could  boast ;  and  with  this,  down  cellar  she 
tripped,  her  little  heels  tapping  lightly  on  each  stair,  and  the 
hum  of  a  song  coining  back  after  her  as  she  sought  the 
cider-barrel.  Up  again  she  came,  and  set  the  silver  cup, 
with  its  clear  amber  contents,  down  by  the  fire,  and  then 
5* 


106  THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND. 

busied  herself  in  making  just  the  crispest,  nicest  square  of 
toast  to  be  eaten  with  it,  —  for  Miss  Emily  had  conceived 
the  idea  that  some  little  ceremony  of  this  sort  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  do  away  all  possible  ill  effects  from  a  day's  la 
bor,  and  secure  an  uninterrupted  night's  repose. 

Having  done  all  this,  she  took  her  knitting-work,  and 
stationed  herself  just  opposite  to  her  brother. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Miss  Emily  that  the  era  of  daily 
journals  had  not  yet  arisen  upon  the  earth,  because  if  it  had, 
after  all  her  care  and  pains,  her  brother  would  probably 
have  taken  up  the  evening  paper,  and  holding  it  between 
his  face  and  her,  have  read  an  hour  or  so  in  silence  ;  but 
Mr.  Sewell  had  not  this  resort.  He  knew  perfectly  well 
that  he  had  excited  his  sister's  curiosity  on  a  subject  where 
he  could  not  gratify  it,  and  therefore  he  took  refuge  in  a 
kind  of  mild,  abstracted  air  of  quietude  which  bid  defiance 
to  all  her  little  suggestions. 

After  in  vain  trying  every  indirect  form,  Miss  Emily  ap 
proached  the  subject  more  pointedly. 

"  I  thought  that  you  looked  very  much  interested  in  that 
poor  woman  to-day." 

"  She  had  an  interesting  face,"  said  her  brother,  dryly. 

"  Was  it  like  anybody  that  you  ever  saw  ?  "  said  Miss 
Emily. 

Her  brother  did  not  seem  to  hear  her,  but,  taking  the 
tongs,  picked  up  the  two  ends  of  a  stick  that  had  just  fallen 
apart,  and  arranged  them  so  as  to  make  a  new  blaze. 

Miss  Emily  was  obliged  to  repeat  her  question,  whereat 
he  started  as  one  awakened  out  of  a  dream,  and  said, — 

"  Why,  yes,  he  did  n't  know  but  she  did  ;  there  were  a 
good  many  women  with  black  eyes  and  black  hair,  —  Mrs. 
Kittridge,  for  instance." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  107 

"  Why,  I  don't  think  that  she  looked  like  Mrs.  Kittridge 
in  the  least,"  said  Miss  Emily,  warmly. 

"  Oh,  well !  I  did  n't  say  she  did,"  said  her  brother,  look 
ing  drowsily  at  his  watch  ;  "  why,  Emily,  it 's  getting  rather 
late." 

"  What  made  you  look  so  when  I  showed  you  that  brace 
let  ?  "  said  Miss  Emily,  determined  now  to  push  the  war  to 
the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country. 

"  Look  how  ?  "  said  her  brother,  leisurely  moistening  a 
bit  of  toast  in  his  cider. 

"  Why,  I  never  saw  anybody  look  more  wild  and  aston 
ished  than  you  did  for  a  minute  or  two." 

"  I  did,  did  I  ?  "  said  her  brother,  in  the  same  indifferent 
tone.  "  My  dear  child,  what  an  active  imagination  you 
have.  Did  you  ever  look  through  a  prism,  Emily  ?  " 

"  Why,  no,  Theophilus  ;  what  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  Well,  if  you  should,  you  would  see  everybody  and 
everything  with  a  nice  little  bordering  of  rainbow  around 
them ;  now  the  rainbow  is  n't  on  the  things,  but  in  the 
prism." 

"  Well,  what 's  that  to  the  purpose  ? "  said  Miss  Emily, 
rather  bewildered. 

"  Why,  just  this :  you  women  are  so  nervous  and  excita 
ble,  that  you  are  very  apt  to  see  your  friends  and  the  world 
in  general  with  some  coloring  just  as  unreal.  I  am  sorry 
for  you,  childie,  but  really  I  can't  help  you  to  get  up  a  ro 
mance  out  of  this  bracelet.  Well,  good-night,  Emily,  take 
good  care  of  yourself  and  go  to  bed  ; "  and  Mr.  Sewell  went 
to  his  room,  leaving  poor  Miss  Emily  almost  persuaded  out 
of  the  sight  of  her  own  eyes. 


108  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  little  boy  who  had  been  added  to  the  family  of 
Zephaniah  Pennel  and  his  wife  soon  became  a  source  of 
grave  solicitude  to  that  mild  and  long-suffering  woman. 
For,  as  the  reader  may  have  seen,  he  was  a  resolute,  self- 
willed  little  elf,  and  whatever  his  former  life  may  have  been, 
it  was  quite  evident  that  these  traits  had  been  developed 
without  any  restraint. 

Mrs.  Pennel,  whose  whole  domestic  experience  had  con 
sisted  in  rearing  one  very  sensitive  and  timid  daughter,  who 
needed  for  her  development  only  an  extreme  of  tenderness, 
and  Whose  conscientiousness  was  a  law  unto  herself,  stood 
utterly  confounded  before  the  turbulent  little  spirit  to  which 
her  loving-kindness  had  opened  so  ready  an  asylum,  and  she 
goon  discovered  that  it  is  one  thing  to  take  a  human  being  to 
bring  up,  and  another  to  know  what  to  do  with  it  after  it  is 
taken. 

The  child  had  the  instinctive  awe  of  Zephaniah  which  his 
manly  nature  and  habits  of  command  were  fitted  to  inspire, 
so  that  morning  and  evening,  when  he  was  at  home,  he  was 
demure  enough ;  but  while  the  good  man  was  away  all  day, 
and  sometimes  on  fishing  excursions  which  often  lasted  a 
week,  there  was  a  chronic  state  of  domestic  warfare  —  a 
succession  of  skirmishes,  pitched  battles,  long  treaties,  with 
divers  articles  of  capitulation,  ending,  as  treaties  are  apt  to 
do,  in  open  rupture  on  the  first  convenient  opportunity. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  109 

Mrs.  Fennel  sometimes  reflected  with  herself  mournfully, 
and  with  many  self-disparaging  sighs,  what  was  the  reason 
that  young  master  somehow  contrived  to  keep  her  far  more 
in  awe  of  him  than  he  was  of  her.  Was  she  not  evidently, 
as  yet  at  least,  bigger  and  stronger  than  he,  able  to  hold  his 
rebellious  little  hands,  to  lift  and  carry  him,  and  to  shut  him 
up,  if  so  she  willed,  in  a  dark  closet,  and  even  to  administer 
to  him  that  discipline  of  the  birch  which  Mrs.  Kittridge 
often  and  forcibly  recommended  as  the  great  secret  of  her 
family  prosperity  ?  Was  it  not  her  duty,  as  everybody  told 
her,  to  break  his  will  while  he  was  young  ?  —  a  duty  which 
hung  like  a  millstone  round  the  peaceable  creature's  neck, 
and  weighed  her  down  with  a  distressing  sense  of  respon 
sibility. 

Now,  Mrs.  Fennel  was  one  of  the  people  to  whom  self- 
sacrifice  is  constitutionally  so  much  a  nature,  that  self-denial 
for  her  must  have  consisted  in  standing  up  for  her  own 
rights,  or  having  her  own  way  when  it  crossed  the  will 
and  pleasure  of  any  one  around  her.  All  she  wanted  of 
a  child,  or  in  fact  of  any  human  creature,  was  something  to 
love  and  serve.  We  leave  it  entirely  to  theologians  to  rec 
oncile  such  facts  with  the  theory  of  total  depravity ;  but  it  \. 
is  a  fact  that  there  are  a  considerable  number  of  women  of 
this  class.  Their  life  would  flow  on  very  naturally  if  it  , 
might  consist  only  in  giving,  never  in  withholding  —  only  in 
praise,  never  in  blame  —  only  in  acquiescence,  never  in  con 
flict —  and  the  chief  comfort  of  such  women  in  religion  is 
that  it  gives  them  at  last  an  object  for  love  without  criticism, 
and  for  whom  the  utmost  degree  of  self-abandonment  is  not 
idolatry  but  worship. 

Mrs.  Fennel  would  gladly  -have  placed  herself  and  all  she 
possessed  at  the  disposition  of  the  children ;  they  might  have 


110  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

broken  her  china,  dug  in  the  garden  with  her  silver  spoons, 
made  turf  alleys  in  her  best  room,  drummed  on  her  ma 
hogany  tea-table,  filled  her  muslin  drawer  with  their  choicest 
shells  and  sea-weed ;  only  Mrs.  Fennel  knew  that  such  kind 
ness  was  no  kindness,  and  that  in  the  dreadful  word  respon 
sibility,  familiar  to  every  New  England  mother's  ear,  there 
lay  an  awful  summons  to  deny  and.  to  conflict  where  she 
could  so  much  easier  have  conceded. 

She  saw  that  the  tyrant  little  will  would  reign  without 
mercy,  if  it  reigned  at  all,  and  ever  present  with  her  was  the 
uneasy  sense  that  it  was  her  duty  to  bring  this  erratic  little 
comet  within  the  laws  of  a  well-ordered  solar  system,  —  a 
task  to  which  she  felt  about  as  competent  as  to  make  a  new 
ring  for  Saturn.  Then,  too,  there  was"  a  secret  feeling,  if 
the  truth  must  be  told,  of  what  Mrs.  Kittridge  would  think 
about  it ;  for  duty  is  never  more  formidable  than  when  she 
gets  on  the  cap  and  gown  of  a  neighbor ;  and  Mrs.  Kit 
tridge,  with  her  resolute  voice  and  declamatory  family  gov 
ernment,  had  always  been  a  secret  source  of  uneasiness  to 
poor  Mrs.  PenneL;  who  was  one  of  those  sensitive  souls  who 
can  feel  for  a  mile  or  more  the  sphere  of  a  stronger  neigh 
bor.  During  all  the  years  that  they  had  lived  side  by  side, 
there  had  been  this  shadowy,  unconfessed  feeling  on  the  part 
of  poor  Mrs.  Fennel,  that  Mrs.  Kittridge  thought  her  de 
ficient  in  her  favorite  virtue  of  "  resolution,"  as,  in  fact,  in 
her  inmost  soul  she  knew  she  was; — but  who  wants  to  have 
one's  weak  places  looked  into  by  the  sharp  eyes  of  a  neigh 
bor  who  is  strong  precisely  where  we  are  weak  ?  The 
trouble  that  one  neighbor  may  give  to  another,  simply  by 
living  within  a  mile  of  one,  is  incredible;  but  until  this  new 
accession  to  her  family,  Mrs.  Fennel  had  always  been  able 
to  comfort  herself  with  the  idea  that  the  child  under  her 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  Ill 

particular  training  was  as  well-behaved  as  any  of  those  of 
her  more  demonstrative  friend.  But  now,  all  this  consola 
tion  had  been  put  to  flight ;  she  could  not  meet  Mrs.  Kit- 
tridge  without  most  humiliating  recollections. 

On  Sundays,  when  those  sharp  black  eyes  gleamed  upon 
her  through  the  rails  of  the  neighboring  pew,  her  very  soul 
shrank  within  her,  as  she  recollected  all  the  compromises 
and  defeats  of  the  week  before.  It  seemed  to  her  that  Mrs. 
Kittridge  saw  it  all,  —  how  she  had  ingloriously  bought 
peace  with  gingerbread,  instead  of  maintaining  it  by  right 
ful  authority^ —  how  young  master  had  sat  up  till  nine 
o'clock  on  divers  occasions,  and  even  kept  little  Mara  up 
for  his  lordly  pleasure. 

How  she  trembled  at  every  movement  of  the  child  in  the 
pew,  dreading  some  patent  and  open  impropriety  which 
should  bring  scandal  on  her  government !  This  was  the 
more  to  be  feared,  as  the  first  effort  to  initiate  the  youthful 
neophyte  in  the  decorums  of  the  sanctuary  had  proved  any 
thing  but  a  success,  —  insomuch  that  Zephaniah  Fennel  had 
been  obliged  to  carry  him  out  from  the  church  ;  therefore, 
poor  Mrs.  Fennel  was  thankful  every  Sunday  when  she 
got  her  little  charge  home  without  any  distinct  scandal  and 
breach  of  the  peace. 

But,  after  all,  he  was  such  a  handsome  and  engaging  little 
wretch,  attracting  all  eyes  wherever  he  went,  and  so  full  of 
saucy  drolleries,  that  it  seemed  to  Mrs.  Fennel  that  every 
thing  and  everybody  conspired  to  help  her  spoil  him. 

There  are  two  classes  of  human  beings  in  this  world :  one 
class  seem  made  to  give  love,  and  the  other  to  take  it.  Now 
Mrs.  Fennel  and  Mara  belonged  to  the  first  class,  and  little 
Master  Moses  to  the  latter. 

It  was,  perhaps,  of  service  to  the  little  girl  to  give  to  her 


112  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

delicate,  shrinking,  highly  nervous  organization  the  constant 
support  of  a  companion  so  courageous,  so  richly  blooded, 
and  highly  vitalized  as  the  boy  seemed  to  be.  There  was  a 
fervid,  tropical  richness  in  his  air  that  gave  one  a  sense  of 
warmth  in  looking  at  him,  and  made  his  Oriental  name 
seem  in  good-keeping.  He  seemed  an  exotic  that  might 
have  waked  up  under  fervid  Egyptian  suns,  and  been  found 
cradled  among  the  lotus  blossoms  of  old  Nile,  and  the  fair 
golden-haired  girl  seemed  to  be  gladdened  by  his  compan 
ionship,  as  if  he  supplied  an  element  of  vital  warmth  to  her 
being.  She  seemed  to  incline  toward  him  as  naturally  as  a 
needle  to  a  magnet. 

The  child's  quickness  of  ear  and  the  facility  with  which  he 
picked  up  English  were  marvellous  to  observe.  Evidently, 
he  had  been  somewhat  accustomed  to  the  sound  of  it  before, 
for  there  dropped  out  of  his  vocabulary,  after  he  began  to 
speak,  phrases  which  would  seem  to  betoken  a  longer 
familiarity  with  its  idioms  than  could  be  equally  accounted 
for  by  his  present  experience.  Though  the  English  evi 
dently  was  not  his  native  language,  there  had  yet  appar 
ently  been  some  effort  to  teach  it  to  him  —  although  the 
terror  and  confusion  of  the  shipwreck  seemed  at  first  to 
have  washed  every  former  impression  from  his  mind. 

But  whenever  any  attempt  was  made  to  draw  him  to 
speak  of  the  past,  of  his  mother,  or  of  where  he  came  from, 
his  brow  lowered  gloomily,  and  he  assumed*  that  kind  of 
moody,  impenetrable  gravity,  which  children  at  times  will 
so  strangely  put  on,  and  which  baffle  all  attempts  to  look 
within  them.  Zephaniah  Pennel  used  to  call  it  putting  up 
his  dead-lights. 

Perhaps  it  was  the  dreadful  association  of  agony  and  ter 
ror  connected  with  the  shipwreck,  that  thus  confused  and 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  113 

darkened  the  mirror  of  his  mind  the  moment  it  was  turned 
backward  ;  but  it  was  thought  wisest  by  his  new  friends  to 
avoid  that  class  of  subjects  altogether  —  indeed,  it  was  their 
wish  that  he  might  forget  the  past  entirely,  and  remember 
them  as  his  only  parents. 

Miss  Roxy  and  Miss  Ruey  came  duly  as  appointed  to  in 
itiate  the  young  pilgrim  into  the  habiliments  of  a  Yankee 
boy.,  endeavoring,  at  the  same  time,  to  drop  into  his  mind 
such  seeds  of  moral  wisdom  as  might  make  the  internal 
economy  in  time  correspond  to  the  exterior. 

But  Miss  Roxy  declared  that  "of  all  the  children  that 
ever  she  see,  he  beat  all  for  finding  out  new  mischief,  —  the 
moment  you  'd  make  him  understand  he  must  n't  do  one 
thing,  he  was  right  at  another." 

One  of  his  exploits,  however,  had  very  nearly  been  the 
means  of  cutting  short  the  materials  of  our  story  in  the 
outset. 

It  was  a  warm,  sunny  afternoon,  and  the  three  women, 
being  busy  together  with  their  stitching,  had  tied  a  sun- 
bonnet  on  little  Mara,  and  turned  the  two  loose  upon  the 
beach  to  pick  up  shells. 

All  was  serene,  and  quiet,  and  retired,  and  no  possible 
danger  could  be  apprehended.  So  up  and  down  they 
trotted,  till  the  spirit  of  adventure  which  ever  burned  in 
the  breast  of  little  Moses  caught  sight  of  a  small  canoe 
which  had  been  moored  just  under  the  shadow  of  a  cedar- 
covered  rock. 

Forthwith  he  persuaded  his  little  neighbor  to  go  into  it, 
and  for  a  while  they  made  themselves  very  gay,  rocking  it 
from  side  to  side. 

The  tide  was  going  out,  and  each  retreating  wave  washed 
the  boat  up  and  down,  till  it  came  into  the  boy's  curly  head 


114  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

how  beautiful  it  would  be  to  sail  out  as  he  had  seen  men  do, 
—  and  so,  with  much  puffing  and  earnest  tugging  of  his  little 
brown  hands,  the  boat  at  last  was  loosed  from  her  moorings 
and  pushed  out  on  the  tide,  when  both  children  laughed 
gayly  to  find  themselves  swinging  and  balancing  on  the 
amber  surface,  and  watching  the  rings  and  sparkles  of  sun 
shine  and  the  white  pebbles  below.  Little  Moses  was 
glorious,  —  his  adventures  had  begun,  —  and  with  a  fairy- 
princess  in  his  boat,  he  was  going  to  stretch  away  to  some 
of  the  islands  of  dream-land.  He  persuaded  Mara  to  give 
him  her  pink  sun-bonnet,  which  he  placed  for  a  pennon  on  a 
stick  at  the  end  of  the  boat,  while  he  made  a  vehement 
dashing  with  another,  first  on  one  side  of  the  boat  and  then 
on  the  other,  —  spattering  the  water  in  diamond  showers,  to 
the  infinite  amusement  of  the  little  maiden. 

Meanwhile  the  tide  waves  danced  them  out  and  still  out 
ward,  and  as  they  went  farther  and  farther  from  shore,  the 
more  glorious  felt  the  boy.  i  He  had  got  Mara  all  to  himself, 
and  was  going  away  with  her  from  all  grown  people,  who 
would  n't  let  children  do  as  they  pleased,  —  who  made  them 
sit  still  in  prayer-time,  and  took  them  to  meeting,  and  kept 
so  many  things  which  they  must  not  touch,  or  open,  or  play 
with.  Two  white  sea-gulls  came  flying  toward  the  children, 
and  they  stretched  their  little  arms  in  welcome,  nothing 
doubting  but  these  fair  creatures  were  coming  at  once  to 
take  passage  with  them  for  fairy-land.  But  the  birds  only 
dived  and  shifted  and  veered,  turning  their  silvery  sides 
toward  the  sun,  and  careering  in  circles  round  the  children. 
A  brisk  little  breeze,  that  came  hurrying  down  from  the 
land,  seemed  disposed  to  favor  their  unsubstantial  enterprise, 
—  for  your  winds,  being  a  fanciful,  uncertain  tribe  of  people, 
are  always  for  falling  in  with  anything  that  is  contrary  to 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  115 

common  sense.  So  the  wind  trolled  them  merrily  along, 
nothing  doubting  that  there  might  be  time,  if  they  hurried, 
to  land  their  boat  on  the  shore  of  some  of  the  low-banked 
red  clouds  that  lay  in  the  sunset,  where  they  could  pick  up 
shells,  —  blue  and  pink  and  purple,  —  enough  to  make 
them  rich  for  life.  The  children  were  all  excitement  at  the 
rapidity  with  which  their  little  bark  danced  and  rocked,  as 
it  floated  outward  to  the  broad,  open  ocean,  —  at  the  blue, 
freshening  waves,  at  the  silver-glancing  gulls,  at  the  floating, 
white- winged  ships,  and  at  vague  expectations  of  going 
rapidly  somewhere,  to  something  more  beautiful  still.  And 
what  is  the  happiness  of  the  brightest  hours  of  grown  people 
more  than  this  ? 

"  Roxy,"  said  Aunt  Ruey  innocently,  "  seems  to  me  I 
have  n't  heard  nothin'  o'  them  children  lately.  They  're  so 
still,  I  'm  'fraid  there  's  some  mischief." 

"  Well,  Ruey,  you  jist  go  and  give  a  look  at  'em,"  said 
Miss  Roxy.  "  I  declare,  that  boy  !  I  never  know  what  he 
will  do  next ;  but  there  did  n't  seem  to  be  nothin'  to  get  into 
out  there  but  the  sea,  and  the  beach  is  so  shelving,  a  body 
can't  well  fall  into  that." 

Alas !  good  Miss  Roxy,  the  children  are  at  this  moment 
tilting  up  and  down  on  the  waves,  half  a  mile  out  to  sea,  as 
airily  happy  as  the  sea-gulls ;  and  little  Moses  now  thinks, 
with  glorious  scorn,  of  you  and  your  press-board,  as  of  grim 
shadows  of  restraint  and  bondage  that  shall  never  darken 
his  free  life  more. 

Both  Miss  Roxy  and  Mrs.  Fennel  were,  however,  startled 
into  a  paroxysm  of  alarm  when  poor  Miss  Ruey  came 
screaming,  as  she  entered  the  door,  — 

"  As  sure  as  you  V  alive,  them  chil'en  are  off  in  the  boa?, 
—  they  Y  out  to  sea,  sure  as  I  'm  alive !  What  shall  we 
do?  The  boat '11  upset,  and  the  sharks '11  get  'em." 


116  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

Miss  Roxy  ran  to  the  window,  and  saw  dancing  and 
courtesying  on  the  blue  waves  the  little  pinnace,  with  its 
fanciful  pink  pennon  fluttered  gayly  by  the  indiscreet  and 
flattering  wind. 

Poor  Mrs.  Fennel  ran  to  the  shore,  and  stretched  her 
arms  wildly,  as  if  she  would  have  followed  them  across  the 
treacherous  blue  floor  that  heaved  and  sparkled  between 
them. 

"  Oh,  Mara,  Mara !  oh,  my  poor  little  girl !  oh,  poor 
children  ! " 

"  Well,  if  ever  I  see  such  a  young  un  as  that,"  soliloquized 
Miss  Roxy  from  the  chamber-window;  "there  they  be, 
dancin'  and  giggitin'  about ;  —  they  '11  have  the  boat  upset 
in  a  minit,  and  the  sharks  are  waitin'  for  'em,  no  doubt.  / 
b'lieve  that  ar  young  un  's  helped  by  the  Evil  One,  —  not  a 
boat  round,  else  I  'd  push  off  after  'em.  Well,  I  don't  see 
but  we  must  trust  in  the  Lord,  —  there  don't  seem  to  be 
much  else  to  trust  to,"  said  the  spinster,  as  she  drew  her 
head  in  grimly. 

To  say  the  truth,  there  was  some  reason  for  the  terror  of 
these  most  fearful  suggestions  ;  for  not  far  from  the  place 
where  the  children  embarked  was  Zephaniah's  fish-drying 
ground,  and  multitudes  of  sharks  came  up  with  every  rising 
tide,  allured  by  the  offal  that  was  here  constantly  thrown 
into  the  sea.  Two  of  these  prowlers,  outward-bound  from 
their  quest,  were  even  now  assiduously  attending  the  little 
boat,  and  the  children  derived  no  small  amusement  from 
watching  their  motions  in  the  pellucid  water,  —  the  boy  oc 
casionally  almost  upsetting  the  boat  by  valorous  plunges  at 
them  with  his,  stick.  It  was  the  most  exhilarating  and 
piquant  entertainment  he  had  found  for  many  a  day ;  and 
little  Mara  laughed  in  chorus  at  every  lunge  that  he  made. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  117 

What  would  have  been  the  end  of  it  all  it  is  difficult  to 
say,  had  not  some  mortal  power  interfered  before  they  had 
sailed  finally  away  into  the  sunset. 

But  it  so  happened  on  this  very  afternoon,  Rev.  Mr. 
Sewell  was  out  in  a  boat,  busy  in  the  very  apostolic  em 
ployment  of  catching  fish,  and  looking  up  from  one  of  the 
contemplative  pauses  which  his  occupation  induced,  he 
rnbbed  his  eyes  at  the  apparition  which  presented  itself. 

A  tiny  little  shell  of  a  boat  came  drifting  toward  him,  in 
which  was  a  black-eyed  boy,  with  cheeks  like  a  pomegran 
ate,  and  lustrous  tendrils  of  silky  dark  hair,  and  a  little 
golden-haired  girl,  white  as  a  water-lily,  and  looking  ethereal 
enough  to  have  risen  out  of  the  sea-foam.  Both  were  in  the 
very  sparkle  and  effervescence  of  that  fanciful  glee  which 
bubbles  up  from  the  golden,  untried  fountains  of  early  child 
hood. 

Mr.  Sewell,  at  a  glance,  comprehended  the  whole,  and  at    ] 
once  overhauling  the  tiny  craft,  he  broke  the  spell  of  fairy 
land,  and  constrained  the  little  people  to  return  to  the  con 
fines,  dull  and  dreary,  of  real  and  actual  life. 

Neither  of  them  had  known  a  doubt  or  a  fear  in  that  joy 
ous  trance  of  forbidden  pleasure,  which  shadowed  with  so 
many  fears  the  wiser  and  more  far-seeing  heads  and  hearts 
of  the  grown  people  ;  nor  was  there  enough  language  yet  in 
common  between  the  two  classes  to  make  the  little  ones 
comprehend  the  risk  they  had  run. 

Perhaps  so  do  our  elder  brothers,  in  our  Father's  house, 
look  anxiously  out  when  we  are  sailing  gayly  over  life's  sea,  ! 
—  over  unknown  depths,  —  amid  threatening  monsters,  — 
but  want  words  to  tell  us  why  what  seems  so  bright  is  so 
dangerous. 

Duty  herself  could  not  have  worn  a  more  rigid  aspect 


118  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

than  Miss  Roxy,  as  she  stood  on  the  beach,  press-board  in 
hand ;  for  she  had  forgotten  to  lay  it  down  in  the  eagerness 
of  her  anxiety.  She  essayed  to  lay  hold  of  the  little  hand 
of  Moses  to  pull  him  from  the  boat,  but  he  drew  back,  and, 
looking  at  her  with  a  world  of  defiance  in  his  great  eyes, 
jumped  magnanimously  upon  the  beach. 

The  spirit  of  Sir  Francis  Drake  and  of  Christopher  Colum 
bus  was  swelling  in  his  little  body,  and  was  he  to  be  brought 
under  by  a  dry-visaged  woman  with  a  press-board  ? 

In  fact,  nothing  is  more  ludicrous  about  the  escapades  of 
children  than  the  utter  insensibility  they  feel  to  the  dangers 
they  have  run,  and  the  light  esteem  in  which  they  hold  the 
deep  tragedy  they  create. 

That  night,  when  Zephaniah,  in  his  evening  exercise, 
poured  forth  most  fervent  thanksgivings  for  the  deliver 
ance,  while  Mrs.  Fennel  was  sobbing  in  her  handkerchief, 
Miss  Roxy  was  much  scandalized  by  seeing  the  young  cause 
of  all  the  disturbance  sitting  upon  his  heels,  regarding  the 
emotion  of  the  kneeling  party  with  his  wide  bright  eyes, 
without  a  wink  of  compunction. 

"  Well,  for  her  part,"  she  said,  "  she  hoped  Cap'n  Fennel 
would  be  blessed  in  takin'  that  ar  boy ;  but  she  was  sure  she 
did  n't  see  much  that  looked  like  it  now." 

*      .       *  *  *  *  *  * 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Sewell  fished  no  more  that  day,  for  the 
draught  from  fairy-land  with  which  he  had  filled  his  boat 
brought  up  many  thoughts  into  his  mind,  which  he  pondered 
anxiously. 

"  Strange  ways  of  God,"  he  thought,  "  that  should  send  to 
my  door  this  child,  and  should  wash  upon  the  beach  the  only 
sign  by  which  he  could  be  identified.  To  what  end  or  pur 
pose  ?  Hath  the  Lord  a  will  in  this  matter,  and  what  is  it  ?  " 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  119 

So  he  thought  as  he  slowly  rowed  homeward,  and  so  did 
his  thoughts  work  upon  him  that  half  way  across  the  bay  to 
Harpswell  he  slackened  his  oar  without  knowing  it,  and  the 
boat  lay  drifting  on  the  purple  and  gold  tinted  mirror,  like  a 
speck  between  two  eternities.  Under  such  circumstances, 
even  heads  that  have  worn  the  clerical  wig  for  years  at 
times  get  a  little  dizzy  and  dreamy.  Perhaps  it  was  because 
of  the  impression  made  upon  him  by  the  sudden  apparition 
of  those  great  dark  eyes  and  sable  curls,  that  he  now  thought 
of  the  boy  that  he  had  found  floating  that  afternoon,  looking 
as  if  some  tropical  flower  had  been  washed  landward  by  a 
monsoon ;  and  as  the  boat  rocked  and  tilted,  and  the  minister 
gazed  dreamily  downward  into  the  wavering  rings  of  purple, 
orange,  and  gold  which  spread  out  and  out  from  it,  gradually 
it  seemed  to  him  that  a  face  much  like  the  child's  formed 
itself  in  the  waters  ;  but  it  was  the  face  of  a  girl,  young 
and  radiantly  beautiful,  yet  with  those  same  eyes  and  curls, 
—  he  saw  her  distinctly,  with  her  thousand  rings  of  silky 
hair,  bound  with  strings  of  pearls  and  clasped  with  strange 
gems,  and  she  raised  one  arm  imploringly  to  him,  and  on  the 
wrist  he  saw  the  bracelet  embroidered  with  seed  pearls,  and 
the  letters  D.  M.  "  Ah,  Dolores,"  he  said,  "  well  wert  thou 
called  so.  Poor  Dolores  !  I  cannot  help  thee." 

"What  am  I  dreaming  of?"  said  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sewell. 
"It  is  my  Thursday  evening  lecture  on  Justification,  and 
Emily  has  got  tea  ready,  and  here  I  am  catching  cold  out  on 
the  bay." 


120  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MR.  SEWELL,  as  the  reader  may  perhaps  have  inferred, 
was  of  a  nature  profoundly  secretive. 

It  was  in  most  things  quite  as  pleasant  for  him  to  keep 
matters  to  himself,  as  it  was  to  Miss  Emily  to  tell  them  to 
somebody  else. 

She  resembled  more  than  anything  one  of  those  trotting, 
chattering  little  brooks  that  enliven  the  "  back  lot "  of  many 
a  New  England  home,  while  he  was  like  one  of  those  wells 
you  shall  sometimes  see  by  a  deserted  homestead,  so  long 
unused  that  ferns  and  lichens  feather  every  stone  down  to 
the  dark,  cool  water. 

Dear  to  him  was  the  stillness  and  coolness  of  inner 
thoughts  with  which  no  stranger  intermeddles  ;  dear  to  him 
every  pendent  fern-leaf  of  memory,  every  dripping  moss  of 
old  recollection ;  and  though  the  waters  of  his  soul  came  up 
healthy  and  refreshing  enough  when  one  really  must  have 
them,  yet  one  had  to  go  armed  with  bucket  and  line  and 
draw  them  up,  —  they  never  flowed. 

One  of  his  favorite  maxims  was,  that  the  only  way  to 
keep  a  secret  was  never  to  let  any  one  suspect  that  you 
have  one.  And  as  he  had  one  now,  he  had,  as  you  have 
seen,  done  his  best  to  baffle  and  put  to  sleep  the  feminine 
curiosity  of  his  sister. 

He  rather  wanted  to  tell  her,  too,  for  he  was  a  good-na 
tured  brother,  and  would  have  liked  to  have  given  her  the 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  121 

amount  of  pleasure  the  confidence  would  have  produced ;  but 
then  he  reflected  with  dismay  on  the  number  of  women  in 
his  parish  with  whom  Miss  Emily  was  on  tea-drinking  terms, 
—  he  thought  of  the  wondrous  solvent  powers  of  that  bev 
erage  in  whose  amber  depths  so  many  resolutions,  yea,  and 
solemn  vows,  of  utter  silence  have  been  dissolved  like  Cleo 
patra's  pearls. 

He  knew  that  an  infusion  of  his  secret  would  steam  up 
from  every  cup  of  tea  Emily  should  drink  for  six  months  to 
come,  till  gradually  every  particle  would  be  dissolved  and 
float  in  the  air  of  common  fame.  No;  it  would  not  do. 

You  would  have  thought,  however,  that  something  was  the 
matter  with  Mr.  Sewell,  had  you  seen  him  after  he  retired 
for  the  night  after  he  had  so  very  indifferently  dismissed  the 
subject  of  Miss  Emily's  inquiries.  For  instead  of  retiring 
quietly  to  bed,  as  had  been  his  habit  for  years  at  that  hour, 
he  locked  his  door,  and  then  unlocked  a  desk  of  private 
papers,  and  emptied  certain  pigeon-holes  of  their  contents, 
and  for  an  hour  or  two  sat  unfolding  and  looking  over  old 
letters  and  papers,  —  and  when  all  this  was  done,  he  pushed 
them  from  him  and  sat  for  a  long  time  buried  in  thoughts 
which  went  down  very,  very  deep  into  that  dark  and  mossy 
well  of  which  we  have  spoken. 

Then  he  took  a  pen  and  wrote  a  letter,  and  addressed  it 
to  a  direction  for  which  he  had  searched  through  many  piles 
of  paper,  and  having  done  so,  seemed  to  ponder,  uncertainly, 
whether  to  send  it  or  not.  The  Harpswell  post-office  was 
kept  in  Mr.  Silas  Perrit's  store,  and  the  letters  were  every 
one  of  them  carefully  and  curiously  investigated  by  all  the 
gossips  of  the  village,  and  as  this  was  addressed  to  St.  Augus 
tine  in  Florida,  he  foresaw  that  before  Sunday  the  news 
would  be  in  every  mouth  in  the  parish  that  the  minister 
6 


122  THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

had  written  to  so  and  so  in  Florida, "  and  what  do  you  s'pose 
it's  about?" 

"  No,  no,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  that  will  never  do  ;  but  at 
all  events  there  is  no  hurry,"  and  he  put  back  the  papers  in 
order,  put  the  letter  with  them,  and  locking  his  desk,  looked 
at  his  watch  and  found  it  to  be  two  o'clock,  and  so  he  went 
to  bed  to  think  the  matter  over. 

Now,  there  may  be  some  reader  so  simple  as  to  feel  a  por 
tion  of  Miss  Emily's  curiosity.  But,  my  friend,  restrain  it, 
for  Mr.  Sewell  will  certainly,  as  we  foresee,  become  less 
rather  than  more  communicative  on  this  subject,  as  he 
thinks  upon  it. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  it  be  that  he  knows  or  suspects,  it 
is  something  which  leads  him  to  contemplate  with  more  than 
usual  interest  this  little  mortal  waif  that  has  so  strangely 
come  ashore  in  his  parish. 

He  mentally  resolves  to  study  the  child  as  minutely  as 
possible,  without  betraying  that  he  has  any  particular  reason 
for  being  interested  in  him. 

Therefore,  in  the  latter  part  of  this  mild  November  after 
noon,  which  he  has  devoted  to  pastoral  visiting,  about  two 
months  after  the  funeral,  he  steps  into  his  little  sail-boat,  and 
stretches  away  for  the  shores  of  Orr's  Island.  He  knows 
the  sun  will  be  down  before  he  reaches  there  ;  but  he  sees 
in  the  opposite  horizon,  the  spectral,  shadowy  moon,  only 
waiting  for  daylight  to  be  gone  to  come  out,  calm  and  ra 
diant,  like  a  saintly  friend  neglected  in  the  flush  of  pros 
perity,  who  waits  patiently  to  enliven  our  hours  of  darkness. 

As  his  boat-keel  grazed  the  sands  on  the  other  side,  a 
shout  of  laughter  came  upon  his  ear  from  behind  a  cedar- 
covered  rock,  and  soon  emerged  Captain  Kittridge,  as  long 
and  lean  and  brown  as  the  Ancient  Mariner,  carrying  little 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  123 

Mara  on  one  shoulder,  while  Sally  and  little  Moses  Fennel 
trotted  on  before. 

It  was  difficult  to  say  who  in  this  whole  group  was  in  the 
highest  spirits.  The  fact  was  that  Mrs.  Kittridge  had  gone 
to  a  tea-drinking  over  at  Maquoit,  and  left  the  Captain  as 
house-keeper  and  general  overseer ;  and  little  Mara  and 
Moses  and  Sally  had  been  gloriously  keeping  holiday  with 
him  down  by  the  boat-cove,  where,  to  say  the  truth,  few 
shavings  were  made,  except  those  necessary  to  adorn  the 
children's  heads  with  flowing  suits  of  curls  of  a  most  ex 
traordinary  effect.  The  aprons  of  all  of  them  were  full  of 
these  most  unsubstantial  specimens  of  woody  treasure,  which 
hung  out  in  long  festoons,  looking  of  a  yellow  transparency 
in  the  evening  light.  But  the  delight  of  the  children  in 
their  acquisitions  was  only  equalled  by  that  of  grown-up 
people  in  possessions  equally  fanciful  in  value. 

The  mirth  of  the  little  party,  however,  came  to  a  sudden 
pause  as  they  met  the  minister.     Mara  clung  tight  to  the 
Captain's  neck,  and  looked  out  slyly  under  her  curls.      But    | 
the  little  Moses  made  a  step  forward,  and  fixed  his  bold,  dark,    j 
inquisitive  eyes  upon  him.     The  fact  was,  that  the  minister 
had  been  impressed  upon  the  boy,  in  his  few  visits  to  the 
"  meeting,"  as  such  a  grand  and  mysterious  reason  for  good 
behavior,  that  he  seemed  resolved  to  embrace  the  first  oppor 
tunity  to  study  him  close  at  hand. 

"  Well,  my  little  man,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  with  an  affability 
which  he  could  readily  assume  with  children,  "  you  seem  to 
like  to  look  at  me." 

"  I  do  like  to  look  at  you,"  said  the  boy  gravely,  continu 
ing  to  fix  his  great  black  eyes  upon  him. 

"  I  see  you  do,  my  little  fellow." 

"  Are  you  the  Lord  ?  "  said  the  child,  solemnly. 


124  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Am  I  what  ?  " 

"  The  Lord,"  said  the  boy. 

"  No,  indeed,  my  lad,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  smiling.  "  Why, 
what  put  that  into  your  little  head  ?  " 

"  I  thought  you  were,"  said  the  boy,  still  continuing  to 
study  the  pastor  with  attention.  "  Miss  Roxy  said  so." 

"  It 's  curious  what  notions  chil'en  will  get  in  their  heads," 
said  Captain  Kittridge.  "  They  put  this  and  that  together, 
and  think  it  over,  and  come  out  with  such  queer  things." 

"  But,"  said  the  minister,  "  I  have  brought  something  for 
you  all ; "  saying  which  he  drew  from  his  pocket  tKree  little 
bright-cheeked  apples,  and  gave  one  to  each  child  ;  and  then 
taking  the  hand  of  the  little  Moses  in  his  own,  he  walked 
with  him  toward  the  house-door. 

Mrs.  Fennel  was  sitting  in  her  clean  kitchen,  busily  spin 
ning  at  the  little  wheel,  and  rose  flushed  with  pleasure  at 
the  honor  that  was  done  her. 

"  Pray,  walk  in,  Mr.  Sewell,"  she  said,  rising,  and  leading 
the  way  toward  the  penetralia  of  the  best  room. 

"  Now,  Mrs.  Pennel,  I  am  come  here  for  a  good  sit-down 
by  your  kitchen-fire  this  evening,"  said  Mr.  Sewell.  "  Em 
ily  has  gone  out  to  sit  with  old  Mrs.  Broad,  who  is  laid  up 
with  the  rheumatism,  and  so  1  am  turned  loose  to  pick  up 
my  living  on  the  parish,  and  you  must  give  me  a  seat  for  a 
while  in  your  kitchen  corner.  Best  rooms  are  always  cold." 

"  The  minister 's  right,"  said  Captain  Kittridge.  "  When 
rooms  a'n't  much  set  in,  folks  never  feel  so  kind  o'  natural 
in  'em.  So  you  jist  let  me  put  on  a  good  back-log  and  fore- 
stick,  and  build  up  a  fire  to  tell  stories  by  this  evening.  My 
wife's  gone  out  to  tea,  too,"  he  said,  with  an  elastic  skip. 

And  in  a  few  moments  the  Captain  had  produced  in  the 
great  cavernous  chimney  a  foundation  for  a  fire  that  prom- 


THE   PKAIJL   OF   ORR'S    ISLAND.  125 

ised  breadth,  solidity,  and  continuance.  A  great  back-log, 
embroidered  here  and  there  with  tufts  of  green  or  grayish 
moss,  was  first  flung  into  the  capacious  arms  of  the  fire 
place,  and  a  smaller  log  placed  above  it. 

"  Now,  all  you  young  uns  go  out  and  bring  in  chips,"  said 
the  Captain.  "  There  's  capital  ones  out  to  the  wood-pile." 

Mr.  Sewell  was  pleased  to  see  the  flash  that  came  from 
the  eyes  of  little  Moses  at  this  order  —  how  energetically 
he  ran  before  the  others,  and  came  with  glowing  cheeks  and 
distended  arms,  throwing  down  great  white  chips  with  their 
green  mossy  bark,  scattering  tufts  on  the  floor. 

"  Good,"  said  he  softly  to  himself,  as  he  leaned  on  the  top 
of  his  gold-headed  cane ;  "  there's  energy,  ambition,  mus 
cle  ; "  and  he  nodded  his  head  once  or  twice  to  some  internal 
decision. 

"  There  !  "  said  the  Captain,  rising  out  of  a  perfect  whirl 
wind  of  chips  and  pine  kindlings  with  which  in  his  zeal  he 
had  bestrown  the  wide,  black  stone  hearth,  and  pointing  to 
the  tongues  of  flame  that  were  leaping  and  blazing  up 
through  the  crevices  of  the  dry  pine  wood  which  he  had  in 
termingled  plentifully  with  the  more  substantial  fuel, — 
"  there,  Mis'  Pennel,  a'n't  I  a  master-hand  at  a  fire?  But 
I'm  really  sorry  I've  dirtied  your  floor,"  he  said,  as  he 
brushed  down  his  pantaloons,  which  were  covered  with  bits 
of  grizzly  moss,  and  looked  on  the  surrounding  desolations  ; 
"give  me  a  broom,  I  can  sweep  up  now  as  well  as  any 
woman." 

"  Oh,  never  mind,"  said  Mrs.  Pennel,  laughing,  "  I  '11 
sweep  up." 

"  Well,  now,  Mis'  Pennel,  you  're  one  of  the  women  that 
don't  get  put  out  easy  ;  a'n't  ye  ?  "  said  the  Captain,  still 
contemplating  his  fire  with  a  proud  and  watchful  eye. 


126  THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

"  Law  me  !  "  he  exclaimed,  glancing  through  the  window, 
"  there 's  the  Cap'n  a-comin'.  I  'm  jist  goin'  to  give  a  look  at 
what  he 's  brought  in.  Come,  chil'en,"  and  the  Captain  dis 
appeared  with  all  three  of  the  children  at  his  heels,  to  go 
down  to  examine  the  treasures  of  the  fishing-smack. 

Mr.  Sewell  seated  himself  coseyly  in  the  chimney-corner, 
and  sank  into  a  state  of  half-dreamy  revery ;  his  eyes  fixed 
on  the  fairest  sight  one  can  see  of  a  frosty  autumn  twilight 
—  a  crackling  wood-fire. 

Mrs.  Fennel  moved  soft-footed  to  and  fro,  arraying  her 
tea-table  in  her  own  finest  and  pure  damask,  and  bringing 
from  hidden  stores  her  best  china  and  newest  silver,  her 
choicest  sweetmeats  and  cake  —  whatever  was  fairest  and 
nicest  in  her  house  —  to  honor  her  unexpected  guest. 

Mr.  Sewell's  eyes  followed  her  occasionally  about  the 
room,  with  an  expression  of  pleased  and  curious  satisfaction. 
He  was  taking  it  all  in  as  an  artistic  picture  —  that  simple, 
kindly  hearth,  with  its  mossy  logs,  yet  steaming  with  the 
moisture  of  the  wild  woods  —  the  table  so  neat,  so  cheery, 
with  its  many  little  delicacies,  and  refinements  of  appoint 
ment,  and  its  ample  varieties  to  tempt  the  appetite  —  and 
then  the  Captain  coming  in,  yet  fresh  and  hungry  from  his 
afternoon's  toil,  with  the  children  trotting  before  him. 

"And  this  is  the  inheritance  he  comes  into,"  he  mur 
mured  ;  "  healthy  —  wholesome  —  cheerful  —  secure  :  how 
much  better  than  hot,  stifling  luxury !  " 

Here  the  minister's  meditations  were  interrupted  by  the 
entrance  of  all  the  children,  joyful  and  loquacious.  Little 
Moses  held  up  a  string  of  mackerel,  with  their  graceful 
bodies  and  elegantly  cut  fins. 

"  Just  a  specimen  of  the  best,  Mary,"  said  Captain  Fen 
nel.  "  I  thought  I  'd  bring  'em  for  Miss  Emily." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  127 

"Miss  Emily  will  be  a  thousand  times  obliged  to  you," 
said  Mr.  Sevvell,  rising  up. 

As  to  Mara  and  Sally,  they  were  revelling  in  apronsful  of 
shells  and  sea-weed,  which  they  bustled  into  the  other  room 
to  bestow  in  their  spacious  baby-house. 

And  now,  after  due  time  for  Zephaniah  to  assume  a  land 
toilet,  all  sat  down  to  the  evening  meal. 

After  supper  was  over,  the  Captain  was  besieged  by  the 
children.  Little  Mara  mounted  first  into  his  lap,  and  nestled 
herself  quietly  under  his  coat  —  Moses  and  Sally  stood  at 
each  knee. 

"  Come,  now,"  said  Moses,  "  you  said  you  would  tell  us 
about  the  mermen  to-night." 

"  Yes,  and  the  mermaids,"  said  Sally.  "  Tell  them  all  you 
told  me  the  other  night  in  the  trundle-bed." 

Sally  valued  herself  no  little  on  the  score  of  the  Captain's 
talent  as  a  romancer. 

"  You  see,  Moses,"  she  said,  volubly,  "  father  saw  mermen 
and  mermaids  a  plenty  of  them  in  the  West  Indies." 

"  Oh,  never  mind  about  'ein  now,"  said  Captain  Kittridge, 
looking  at  Mr.  Sewell's  corner. 

"  Why  not,  father  ?  mother  is  n't  here,"  said  Sally,  inno 
cently. 

A  smile  passed  round  the  faces  of  the  company,  and  Mr. 
Sewell  said,  "  Come,  Captain,  no  modesty ;  we  all  know 
you  have  as  good  a  faculty  for  telling  a  story  as  for  making 
a  fire." 

"  Do  tell  me  what  mermen  are  ?  "  said  Moses. 

"  Wai',"  said  the  Captain,  sinking  his  voice  confidentially, 
and  hitching  his  chair  a  little  around,  "  mermen  and  maids 
is  a  kind  o'  people  that  have  their  world  jist  like  our 'n, 
only  it 's  down  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  'cause  the  bottom 


128  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

of  the  sea  has  its  mountains  and  its  valleys,  and  its  trees 
and  its  bushes,  and  it  stands  to  reason  there  should  be  peo 
ple  there  too." 

Moses  opened  his  broad  black  eyes  wider  than  usual,  and 
looked  absorbed  attention. 

"Tell  'em  about  how  you  saw  'em/'  said  Sally. 

"  Wai',  yes,"  said  Captain  Kittridge,  "  once  when  I  was 
to  the  Bahamas,  —  it  was  one  Sunday  morning  in  June,  the 
first  Sunday  in  the  month,  —  we  cast  anchor  pretty  nigh  a 
reef  of  coral,  and  I  was  jist  a-sittin'  down  to  read  my 
Bible,  when  up  comes  a  merman  over  the  side  of  the  ship, 
all  dressed  as  fine  as  any  old  beau  that  ever  ye  see,  with 
cocked-hat  and  silk  stockings,  and  shoe-buckles,  and  his 
clothes  were  sea-green,  and  his  shoe-buckles  shone  like 
diamonds." 

"  Do  you  suppose  they  were  diamonds,  really  ? "  said 
Sally. 

"  Wai',  child,  I  did  n't  ask  him,  but  I  should  n't  be  sur 
prised,  from  all  I  know  of  their  ways,  if  they  was,"  said  the 
Captain,  who  had  now  got  so  wholly  into  the  spirit  of  his 
fiction  that  he  no  longer  felt  embarrassed  by  the  minister's 
presence,  nor  saw  the  look  of  amusement  with  which  he  was 
listening  to  him  in  his  chimney-corner.  "  But,  as  I  was 
sayin',  he  came  up  to  me,  and  made  the  politest  bow  that 
ever  ye  see,  and  says  he,  '  Cap'n  Kittridge,  I  presume,'  and 
says  I,  *  Yes,  sir.'  'I'm  sorry  to  interrupt  your  reading,' 
says  he  ;  and  says  I,  '  Oh,  no  matter,  sir.'  '  But,'  says  he, 
'  if  you  would  only  be  so  good  as  to  move  your  anchor. 
You  've  cast  anchor  right  before  my  front-door,  and  my 
wife  and  family  can't  get  out  to  go  to  meetin'.' " 

"  Why,  do  they  go  to  meeting  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea  ? " 
said  Moses. 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  129 

"  Law,  bless  you  sonny,  yes.  Why,  Sunday  morning, 
when  the  sea  was  all  still,  I  used  to  Lear  the  b&ss-viol  a- 
soundin'  down  under  the  waters,  jist  as  plain- as  could  be, 
—  and  psalms  and  preachin'.  I  've  reason  to  think  there  'a 
as  many  hopefully  pious  mermaids  as  there  be  folks,"  said 
the  Captain. 

"  But,"  said  Moses,  "  you  said  the  anchor  was  before  the 
front-door,  so  the  family  could  n't  get  out,  —  how  did  the 
merman  get  out  ?  " 

"  Oh !  he  got  out  of  the  scuttle  on  the  roof,"  said  the 
Captain,  promptly. 

"  And  did  you  move  your  anchor  ? "  said  Moses. 

"  Why,  child,  yes,  to  be  sure  I  did ;  he  was  such  a  gen 
tleman,  I  wanted  to  oblige  him,  —  it  shows  you  how  impor 
tant  it  is  always  to  be  polite,"  said  the  Captain,  by  way  of 
giving  a  moral  turn  to  his  narrative. 

Mr.  Sewell,  during  the  progress  of  this  story,  examined 
the  Captain  with  eyes  of  amused  curiosity.  His  counte 
nance  was  as  fixed  and  steady,  and  his  whole  manner  of 
reciting  as  matter-of-fact  and  collected,  as  if  he  were  relat 
ing  some  of  the  every-day  affairs  of  his  boat-building. 

"  Wai',  Sally,"  said  the  Captain,  rising,  after  his  yarn 
had  proceeded  for  an  indefinite  length  in  this  manner,  "  you 
and  I  must  be  goin'.  I  promised  your  ma  you  should  n't 
be  up  late,  and  we  have  a  long  walk  home,  —  besides  it 's 
time  these  little  folks  was  in  bed." 

The  children  all  clung  round  the  Captain,  and  could 
hardly  be  persuaded  to  let  him  go. 

When  he  was  gone,  Mrs.  Fennel  took  the  little  ones  to 
their  nest  in  an  adjoining  room. 

Mr.  Sewell  approached  his  chair  to  that  of  Captain  Pen- 
nel,  and  began  talking  to  him  in  a  tone  of  voice  so  low,  that 
6* 


130  THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND. 

.  we,Jiave  never  been  able  to  make  out  exactly  what  he  was 
saying. 

Whatever  it  might  be,  however,  it  seemed  to  give  rise  to 
an  anxious  consultation. 

"  I  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  tell  any  one  this  but 
yourself,  Captain  Fennel.  It  is  for  you  to  decide,  in  view 
of  the  probabilities  I  have  told  you,  what  you  will  do." 

"  Well,"  said  Zephaniah,  "  since  you  leave  it  to  me,  I 
say,  let  us  keep  him.  It  certainly  seems  a  marked  provi 
dence  that  he  has  been  thrown  upon  us  as  he  has,  and  the 
Lord  seemed  to  prepare  a  way  for  him  in  our  hearts.  I 
am  well  able  to  afford  it,  and  Mis'  Fennel,  she  agrees  to  it, 
and  on  the  whole  I  don't  think  we  'd  best,  go  back  on  our 
steps  ;  besides,  our  little  Mara  has  thrived  since  he  came 
under  our  roof.  He  is,  to  be  sure,  kind  o'  masterful,  and 
I  shall  have  to  take  him  off  Mis'  Fennel's  hands  before 
long,  and  put  him  into  the  sloop.  But,  after  all,  there  seems 
to  be  the  makin'  of  a  man  in  him,  and  when  we  are  called 
away,  why  he  '11  be  as  a  brother  to  poor  little  Mara.  Yes, 
I  think  it's  best  as  'tis." 

The  minister,  as  he  flitted  across  the  bay  by  moonlight, 

ifelt  relieved  of  a  burden.  His  secret  was  locked  up  as 
safe  in  the  breast  of  Zephaniah  Fennel  as  it  could  be  in 
his  own. 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S   ISLAND.  131 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ZEPHANIAH  FENNEL  was  what  might  be  called  a  Hebrew 
of  the  Hebrews. 

New  England,  in  her  earlier  days,  founding  her  institu 
tions  on  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  bred  better  Jews  than 
Moses  could,  because  she  read  Moses  with  the  amendments 
of  Christ. 

The  state  of  society  in  some  of  the  districts  of  Maine,  in 
these  days,  much  resembled  in  its  spirit  that  which  Moses 
•  labored  to  produce  in  ruder  ages.  It  was  entirely  demo 
cratic,  simple,  grave,  hearty,  and  sincere,  —  solemn  and 
religious  in  its  daily  tone,  and  yet,  as  to  all^  material  good, 
full  of  wholesome  thrift  and  prosperity.  [JPerhaps,  taking 
the  average  mass  of  the  people,  a  more  healthful  and  desir 
able  state  of  society  never  existed.  Its  better  specimens 
had  a  simple  Doric  grandeur  unsurpassed  in  any  age. 

The  bringing  up  a  child  in  this  state  of  society  was  a 
f  far  more  simple  enterprise  than  in  our  modern  times,  when 
the  factitious  wants  and  aspirations  are  so  much  more'. de 
veloped. 

Zephaniah  Fennel  was  as  high  as  anybody  in  the  land. 
He  owned  not  only  the  neat  little  schooner,  "  Brilliant," 
with  divers  small  fishing-boats,  but  also  a  snug  farm,  ad 
joining  the  brown  house,  together  with  some  fresh,  juicy 
pasture-lots  on  neighboring  islands,  where  he  raised  mutton, 
unsurpassed  even  by  the  English  South-down,  and  wool, 


132  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

which  furnished  homespun  to  clothe  his  family  on  all  every 
day  occasions. 

Mrs.  Fennel,  to  be  sure,  had  silks  and  satins,  and  flow 
ered  India  chintz,  and  even  a  Cashmere  shawl,  the  fruits  of 
some  of  her  husband's  earlier  voyages,  which  were,  how 
ever,  carefully  stowed  away  for  occasions  so  high  and  mighty, 
that  they  seldom  saw  the  light. 

Not  to  wear  best  things  every  day,  was  a  maxim  of 
New  England  thrift,  as  little  disputed  as  any  verse  of  the 
catechism  ;  and  so  Mrs.  Fennel  found  the  stuff  gown  of  her 
own  dyeing  and  spinning  so  respectable  for  most  purposes, 
that  it  figured  even  in  the  meeting-house  itself,  except  on 
the  very  finest  of  Sundays,  when  heaven  and  earth  seemed 
alike  propitious. 

A  person  can  well  afford  to  wear  homespun  stuff  to  meet 
ing,  who  is  buoyed  up  by  a  secret  consciousness  of  an  abun 
dance  of  fine  things  that  could  be  worn,  if  one  were  so 
disposed,  and  everybody  respected  Mrs.  Fennel's  homespun 
the  more,  because  they  thought  of  the  things  she  did  n't 
wear. 

As  to  advantages  of  education,  the  island,  like  all  other 
New  England  districts,  had  its  common  school,  where  one 
got  the  key  of  knowledge,  —  for  having  learned  to  read, 
write,  and  cipher,  the  young  fellow  of  those  regions  com 
monly  regarded  himself  as  in  possession  of  all  that  a  man 
needs,  to  help  himself  to  any  further  acquisitions  he  might 
desire. 

The  boys  then  made  fishing  voyages  to  the  Banks,  and 
those  who  were  so  disposed  took  their  books  with  them.  If 
a  boy  did  not  wish  to  be  bored  with  study,  there  was  nobody 
to  force  him  ;  but  if  a  bright  one  saw  visions  of  future  suc 
cess  in  life  lying  through  the  avenues  of  knowledge,  he  found 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND.  133 

many  a  leisure  hour  to  pore  over  his  books,  and  work  out 
the  problems  of  navigation  directly  over  the  element  they 
were  meant  to  control. 

Four  years  having  glided  by  since  the  commencement  of 
our  story,  we  find  in  the  brown  house  of  Zephaniah  Fennel, 
a  tall,  well-knit,  handsome  boy  of  ten  years,  who  knows  no 
fear  of  wind  or  sea  —  who  can  set  you  over  from  Orr's 
Island  to  Harpswell,  either  in  sail  or  row-boat,  he  thinks,  as 
well  as  any  man  living  —  who  knows  every  rope  of  the 
schooner  "  Brilliant,"  and  fancies  he  could  command  it  as 
well  as  "  father  "  himself —  and  is  supporting  himself  this 
spring,  during  the  tamer  drudgeries  of  driving  plough,  and 
dropping  potatoes,  with  the  glorious  vision  of  being  taken 
this  year  on  the  annual  trip  to  "  the  Banks,"  which  comes 
on  after  planting.  He  reads  fluently,  —  witness  the  "  Robin 
son  Crusoe,"  which  never  departs  from  under  his  pillow,  and 
Goldsmith's  "  History  of  Greece  and  Rome,"  which  good 
Mr.  Sewell  has  lent  him,  —  and  he  often  brings  shrewd  criti 
cisms  on  the  character  and  course  of  Romulus  or  Alexander 
into  the  common  current  of  every-day  life,  in  a  way  that 
brings  a  smile  over  the  grave  face  of  Zephaniah,  and  makes 
Mrs.  Fennel  think  the  boy  certainly  ought  to  be  sent  to 
college. 

As  for  Mara,  she  is  now  a  child  of  seven,  still  adorned 
with  long  golden  curls  —  still  looking  dreamily  out  of  soft 
hazel  eyes  into  some  unknown  future  not  her  own.  She  has 
no  dreams  for  herself —  they  are  all  for  Moses. 

[jFor  his  sake  she  has  learned  all  the  womanly  little  ac 
complishments  which  Mrs.  Kittridge  has  dragooned  into 
Sally.  She  knits  his  mittens  and  his  stockings,  and  hems 
his  pocket-handkerchiefs,  and  aspires  to  make  his  shirts  all 
herself.  Whatever  book  Moses  reads,  forthwith  she  aspires 


rMC^ 

134  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

to  read  too,  and  though  three  years  younger,  reads  with  a 
far  more  precocious  insight. 

Her  little  form  is  slight  and  frail,  and  her  cheek  has  a 
clear  transparent  brilliancy  quite  different  from  the  rounded 
one  of  the  boy ;  she  looks  not  exactly  in  ill  health,  but  has 
that  sort  of  transparent  appearance  which  one  fancies  might 
be  an  attribute  of  fairies  and  sylphs.  /  All  her  outward  senses 
are  finer  and  more  acute  than  his,  and  finer  and  more  deli 
cate  all  the  attributes  of  her  mind.  Those  who  contend 
against  giving  woman  the  same  education  as  man,  do  it  on. 
the  ground  that  it  would  make  the  woman  unfeminine  —  as 
if  Nature  had  done  her  work  so  slightly  that  it  could  be  so 
easily  ravelled  and  knit  over.  In  fact,  there  is  a  masculine 
and  a  feminine  element  in  all  knowledge,  and  a  man  and  a 
woman  put  to  the  same  study  extract  only  what  their  nature 
fits  them  to  see  —  so  that  knowledge  can  be  fully  orbed  only 
when  the  two  unite  in  the  search  and  share  the  spoils.  I 

When  Moses  was  full  of  Romulus  and  Numa,  Mara  pon 
dered  the  story  of  the  nymph  Egeria  —  sweet  parable,  in 
which  lies  all  we  have  been  saying. 

Her  trust  in  him  was  boundless.  He  was  a  constant  hero 
in  her  eyes,  and  in  her  he  found  a  steadfast  believer  as  to 
all  possible  feats  and  exploits  to  which  he  felt  himself  com 
petent,  for  the  boy  often  had  privately  assured  her  that  he 
could  command  the  Brilliant  as  well  as  father  himself. 

Spring  had  already  come,  loosing  the  chains  of  ice  in  all 
the  bays  and  coves  round  Harpswell,  Orr's  Island,  Maquoit, 
and  Middle  Bay.  The  magnificent  spruces  stood  forth  in 
their  gala-dresses,  tipped  on  every  point  with  vivid  emerald ; 
the  silver  firs  exuded  from  their  tender  shoots  the  fragrance 
of  ripe  pine-apple;  the  white  pines  shot  forth  long  weird 
fingers  at  the  end  of  their  fringy  boughs  ;  and  even  every 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  135 

little  mimic  evergreen  in  the  shadows  at  their  feet  was  made 
beautiful  by  the  addition  of  a  vivid  border  of  green  on  the 
sombre  coloring  of  its  last  year's  leaves.  Arbutus,  fragrant 
with  its  clean,  wholesome  odors,  gave  forth  its  thousand 
dewy  pink  blossoms,  and  the  trailing  Linnea  borealis  hung 
its  pendent  twin  bells  round  every  mossy  stump  and  old 
rock  damp  with  green  forest  mould.  The  green  and  ver 
milion  matting  of  the  partridge-berry  was  impearled  with 
white  velvet  blossoms,  the  checkerberry  hung  forth  a  trans 
lucent  bell  under  its  varnished  green  leaf,  and  a  thousand 
more  fairy  bells,  white  or  red.  hung  on  blueberry  and 
huckleberry  bushes.  The  little  Pearl  of  Orr's  Island  had 
wandered  many  an  hour  gathering  bouquets  of  all  these,  to 
fill  the  brown  house  with  sweetness  when  her  grandfather 
and  Moses  should  come  in  from  work. 

The  love  of  flowers  seemed  to  be  one  of  her  earliest  char 
acteristics,  and  the  young  spring  flowers  of  New  England,  in 
their  airy  delicacy  and  fragility,  were  much  like  herself  — 
and  so  strong  seemed  the  affinity  between  them,  that  not 
only  Mrs.  Pennel's  best  India  china  vases  on  the  keeping- 
room  mantel  were  filled,  but  here  stood  a  tumbler  of  scarlet 
rock  columbine,  and  there  a  bowl  of  blue  and  white  violets, 
and  in  another  place  a  saucer  of  shell-tinted  crow-foot,  blue 
liverwort,  and  white  anemone,  so  that  Zephaniah  Fennel 
was  wont  to  say  there  was  n't  a  drink  of  water  to  be  got,  for 
Mara's  flowers ;  but  he  always  said  it  with  a  smile  that  made 
his  weather-beaten,  hard  features  look  like  a  rock  lit  up  by 
a  sunbeam.  Little  Mara  was  the  pearl  of  the  old  seaman's 
life,  every  finer  particle  of  his  nature  came  out  in  her  con 
centrated  and  polished,  and  he  often  wondered  at  a  creature 
so  ethereal  belonging  to  him  —  as  if  down  on  some  shaggy 
sea-green  rock  an  old  pearl  oyster  should  muse  and  marvel 


136  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

on  the  strange  silvery  mystery  of  beauty  that  was  growing 
in  the  silence  of  his  heart. 

But  May  has  passed ;  the  arbutus  and  the  Linnea  are 
gone  from  the  woods,  and  the  pine  tips  have  grown  into 
young  shoots,  which  wilt  at  noon  under  a  direct  reflection 
from  sun  and  sea,  and  the  blue  sky  has  that  metallic  clear 
ness  and  brilliancy  which  distinguishes  those  regions,  and 
the  planting  is  at  last  over,  and  this  very  morning  Moses 
is  to  set  off  in  the  Brilliant  for  his  first  voyage  to  the 
Banks. 

Glorious  knight  he  !  the  world  all  before  him,  and  the 
blood  of  ten  years  racing  and  throbbing  in  his  veins  as  he 
talks  knowrogly  of  hooks,  and  sinkers,  and  bait,  and  lines, 
and  wears  proudly  the  red  flannel  shirt  which  Mara  had 
just  finished  for  him. 

"  How  I  do  wish  I  were  going  with  you  ! "  she  says.  "  I 
could  do  something,  could  n't  I  —  take  care  of  your  hooks, 
or  something  ?  " 

"  Pooh !  "  said  Moses,  sublimely  regarding  her  while  he 
settled  the  collar  of  his  shirt,  "  you  're  a  girl  —  and  what 
can  girls  do  at  sea  ?  you  never  like  to  catch  fish  —  it  always 
makes  you  cry  to  see  'em  flop." 

"  Oh,  yes,  poor  fish  ! "  said  Mara,  perplexed  between  her 
sympathy  for  the  fish  and  her  desire  for  the  glory  of  her 
hero,  which  must  be  founded  on  their  pain ;  "  I  can't  help 
feeling  sorry  when  they  gasp  so." 

"  Well,  and  what  do  you  suppose  you  would  do  when  the 
men  are  pulling  up  twenty  and  forty  pounder  ?  "  said  Moses, 
striding  sublimely.  "  Why,  they  flop  so,  they  'd  knock  you 
over  in  a  minute." 

"  Do  they  ?  Oh,  Moses,  do  be  careful.  What  if  they 
should  hurt  you  ?  " 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  137 

"  Hurt  me  !  "  said  Moses,  laughing ;  "  that 's  a  good  one. 
I'd  like  to  see  a  fish  that  could  hurt  me" 

"  Do  hear  that  boy  talk  !  "  said  Mrs.  Fennel  to  her  hus 
band,  as  they  stood  within  their  chamber-door. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  Captain  Pennel,  smiling ;  "  he  's  full  of 
the  matter.  I  believe  he  'd  take  the  command  of  the 
schooner  this  morning  if  I  'd  let  him." 

The  Brilliant  lay  all  this  while  courtesying  on  the  waves, 
which  kissed  and  whispered  to  the  little  coquettish  craft. 
A  fairer  June  morning  had  not  risen  on  the  shores  that 
week ;  the  blue  mirror  of  the  ocean  was  all  dotted  over  with 
the  tiny  white  sails  of  fishing-craft  bound  on  the  same 
errand,  and  the  breeze  that  was  just  crisping  the  waters 
had  the  very  spirit  of  energy  and  adventure  in  it. 

Everything  and  everybody  was  now  on  board,  and  she 
began  to  spread  her  fair  wings,  and  slowly  and  gracefully 
to  retreat  from  the  shore. 

Little  Moses  stood  on  the  deck,  his  black  curls  blowing  in 
the  wind,  and  his  large  eyes  dancing  with  excitement,  —  his 
clear  olive  complexion  and  glowing  cheeks  well  set  off  by 
his  red  shirt. 

Mrs.  Pennel  stood  with  Mara  on  the  shore  to  see  them 
go.  The  fair  little  golden-haired  Ariadne  shaded  her  eyes 
with  one  arm,  and  stretched  the  other  after  her  Theseus,  till 
the  vessel  grew  smaller,  and  finally  seemed  to  melt  away 
into  the  eternal  blue. 

Many  be  the  wives  and  lovers  that  have  watched  those 
little  fishing-craft  as  they  went  gayly  out  like  this,  but  have 
waited  long  —  too  long  —  and  seen  them  again  no  more. 
In  night  and  fog  they  have  gone  down  under  the  keel  of 
some  ocean  packet  or  Indiaman,  and  sunk  with  brave  hearts 
and  hands,  like  a  bubble  in  the  mighty  waters.  Yet  Mrs. 


138  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND, 

Fennel  did  not  turn  back  to  her  house  in  apprehension  of 
this.  Her  husband  had  made  so  many  voyages,  and  always 
returned  safely,  that  she  confidently  expected  before  long  to 
see  them  home  again. 

The  next  Sunday  the  seat  of  Zephaniah  Pennel  was 
vacant  in  church.  According  to  custom,  a  note  was  put  up 
asking  prayers  for  his  safe  return,  and  then  everybody  knew 
that  he  was  gone  to  the  Banks ;  and  as  the  roguish,  hand 
some  face  of  Moses  was  also  missing,  Miss  Roxy  whispered 
to  Miss  Ruey,  "  There  !  Captain  Pennel 's  took  Moses  on 
his  first  voyage.  We  must  contrive  to  call  round  on  Mis' 
Pennel  afore  long.  She  '11  be  lonesome." 

Sunday  evening  Mrs.  Pennel  was  sitting  pensively  with 
little  Mara  by  the  kitchen  hearth,  where  they  had  been  boil 
ing  the  tea-kettle  for  their  solitary  meal.  They  heard  a 
brisk  step  without,  and  soon  Captain  and  Mrs.  Kittridge 
made  their  appearance. 

"  Good-evening,  Mis'  Pennel,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  I 's 
a-tellin'  my  good  woman  we  must  come  down  and  see  how 
you  's  a-getting  along.  It 's  raly  a  work  of  necessity  and 
mercy  proper  for  the  Lord's  day.  Rather  lonesome  now  the 
Captain  's  gone,  a'n't  ye  ?  Took  little  Moses,  too,  I  see. 
Was  n't  at  meetin'  to-day,  so  I  says,  Mis'  Kittridge,  we  11 
just  step  down  and  chirk  'em  up  a  little." 

"  I  did  n't  really  know  how  to  come,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge, 
as  she  allowed  Mrs.  Pennel  to  take  her  bonnet ;  "  but  Aunt 
Roxy  's  to  our  house  now,  and  she  said  she  'd  see  to  Sally. 
So  you  've  let  the  boy  go  to  the  Banks  ?  He 's  young,  a'n't 
he,  for  that  ?  " 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  said  Captain  Kittridge.  "  Why,  I  was 
off  to  the  Banks  long  afore  I  was  his  age,  and  a  capital  time^ 
we  had  of  it,  too.  Golly !  how  them  fish  did  bite !  We 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  139 

stood  up  Jo  our  knees  in  fish  before  we'd  fished  half  an 
hour." 

Mara,  who  had  always  a  shy  affinity  for  the  Captain,  now 
drew  towards  him  and  climbed  on  his  knee. 

"  Did  the  wind  blow  very  hard  ?  "  she  said. 

"  What,  my  little  maid  ?  " 

"  Does  the  wind  blow  at  the  Banks  ?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  my  little  girl,  that  it  does,  sometimes ;  but 
then  there  a'n't  the  least  danger.  Our  craft  ride  out  storms 
like  live  creatures.  I  've  stood  it  out  in  gales  that  was  tight 
enough,  I  'm  sure.  'Member  once  I  turned  in  'tween  twelve 
and  one,  and  had  n't  more  'n  got  asleep,  afore  I  came  clump 
out  of  my  berth,  and  found  everything  upside  down.  And 
'stead  of  goin'  up-stairs  to  get  on  deck,  I  had  to  go  right 
down.  Fact  was,  that  'ere  vessel  jist  turned  clean  over  in 
the  water,  and  come  right  side  up  like  a  duck." 

"  Well,  now,  Cap'n,  I  would  n't  be  tellin'  such  a  story  as 
that,"  said  his  help-meet. 

"  Why,  Polly,  what  do  you  know  about  it  ?  you  never 
was  to  sea.  We  did  turn  clear  over,  for  I  'member  I  saw  a 
bunch  of  sea-weed  big  as  a  peck  measure  stickin'  top  of  the 
mast  next  day.  Jist  shows  how  safe  them  ar  little  fishing 
craft  is,  —  for  all  they  look  like  an  egg-shell  on  the  mighty 
deep,  as  Parson  Sewell  calls  it." 

"  I  was  very  much  pleased  with  Mr.  Sewell's  exercise  in 
prayer  this  morning,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge ;  "it  must  have 
been  a  comfort  to  you,  Mis'  Pennel." 

"  It  was,  to  be  sure,"  said  Mrs.  Pennel. 

"  Puts  me  in  mind  of  poor  Mary  Jane  Simpson.  Her 
husband  went  out,  you  know,  last  June,  and  ha'  n't  been 
heard  of  since.  Mary  Jane  don't  really  know  whether  to 
put  on  mourning  or  not." 


140  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Law  !  I  don't  think  Mary  Jane  need  give  up  yet,"  said 
the  Captain.  "  'Member  one  year  I  was  out,  we  got  blowed 
clear  up  to  Baffin's  Bay,  and  got  shut  up  in  the  ice,  and  had 
to  go  ashore  and  live  jist  as  we  could  among  them  Esqui 
maux.  Did  n't  get  home  for  a  year.  Old  folks  had  clean 
giv'  us  up.  Don't  need  never  despair  of  folks  gone  to  sea, 
for  they's  sure  to  turn  up,  first  or  last.'' 

"  But  I  hope,"  said  Mara,  apprehensively,  "  that  grand 
papa  won't  get  blown  up  to  Baffin's  Bay.  I  've  seen  that 
on  his  chart,  —  it 's  a  good  ways." 

"  And  then  there 's  them  'ere  icebergs,"  said  Mrs.  Kit- 
tridge ;  "  I  'm  always  'fraid  of  running  into  them  in  the  fog." 

"Law!"  said  Captain  Kittridge,  "I've  met  'em  bigger 
than  all  the  colleges  up  to  Brunswick,  —  great  white  bears 
on  'em,  —  hungry  as  Time  in  the  Primer.  Once  we  came 
kersmash  on  to  one  of  'em,  and  if  the  Flying  Betsy  had  n't 
been  made  of  whalebone  and  injer-rubber,  she  'd  a-been 
stove  all  to  pieces.  Them  white  bears,  they  was  so  hungry, 
that  they  stood  there  with  the  water  jist  runnin'  out  of  their 
chops  in  a  perfect  stream." 

"Oh,  dear,  dear,"  said  Mara,  with  wide  round  eyes,  "what 
will  Moses  do  if  they  get  on  the  icebergs.  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  looking  solemnly  at  the  child 
through  the  black  bows  of  her  spectacles,  "  we  can  truly 
say :  — 

'Dangers  stand  thick  through  all  the  ground, 
To  push  us  to  the  tomb ; ' 

as  the  hymn-book  says." 

The  kind-hearted  Captain,  feeling  the  fluttering  heart  of 
little  Mara,  and  seeing  the  tears  start  in  her  eyes,  addressed 
himself  forthwith  to  consolation. 

"  Oh,  never  you  mind,  Mara,"  he  said,  "  there  won't  noth- 


C  Vx/ , , . 

THE  PEARL  OF   ORR'S  ISLAND.  141 

ing  hurt  'em.  Look  at  me.  Why,  I  've  been  everywhere 
on  the  face  of  the  earth.  I  Ve  been  on  icebergs,  and  among 
white  bears  and  Indians,  and  seen  storms  that  would  blow 
the  very  hair  off  your  head,  and  here  I  am,  dry  and  tight  as 
ever.  You  '11  see  'em  back  before  long." 

The  cheerful  laugh  with  which  the  Captain  was  wont  to 
chorus  his  sentences,  sounded  like  the  crackling  of  dry  pine 
wood  on  the  social  hearth.  One  would  hardly  hear  it  with 
out  being  lightened  in  heart ;  and  little  Mara  gazed  at  his 
long,  dry,  ropy  figure,  and  wrinkled  thin  face,  as  a  sort  of 
monument  of  hope  ;  and  his  uproarious  laugh,  which  Mrs. 
Kittridge  sometimes  ungraciously  compared  to  "  the  crack 
ling  of  thorns  under  a  pot,"  seemed  to  her  the  most  delight 
ful  thing  in  the  world. 

"  Mary  Jane  was  a-tellin'  me,"  resumed  Mrs.  Kittridge, 
"  that  when  her  husband  had  been  out  a  month,  she 
dreamed  she  see  him,  and  three  other  men,  a-floatin'  on 
an_iceberg." 

"  Laws,"  said  Captain  Kittridge,  "  that 's  jist  what  my  old 
mother  dreamed  about  me,  and  't  was  true  enough,  too,  till 
we  got  off  the  ice  on  to  the  shore  up  in  the  Esquimaux 
territory,  as  I  was  a-tellin'.  So  you  tell  Mary  Jane  she~ 
need  n't  look  out  for  a  second  husband  yet,  for  that  ar 
dream  's  a  sartin  sign  he  '11  be  back." 

"  Cap'n  Kittridge ! "  said  his  help-meet,  drawing  herself 
up,  and  giving  him  an  austere  glance  over  her  spectacles ; 
"how  often  must  I  tell  you  that  there  is  subjects  which 
should  n't  be  treated  with  levity  ?  " 

"  Who  's  been  a-treatin'  of  'em  with  levity  ? "  said  the 
Captain.  "  I  'm  sure  I  a'n't.  Mary  Jane  's  good-lookin', 
and  there  's  plenty  of  young  fellows  as  sees  it  as  well  as  me. 
I  declare  she  looked  as  pretty  as  any  young  gal  when  she 


142  THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND. 

ris  up  in  the  singers'  seats  to-day.  Put  me  in  mind  of  you, 
Polly,  when  I  first  come  home  from  the  Injies." 

"  Oh,  come  now,  Cap'n  Kittridge  !  we  V  gettin'  too  old 
for  that  sort  o'  talk." 

u  We  a'n't  too  old,  be  we,  Mara  ?  "  said  the  Captain,  trot 
ting  the  little  girl  gayly  on  his  knee  ;  u  and  we  a'n't  afraid 
of  icebergs  and  no  sich,  be  we  ?  I  tell  you  they 's  a  fine 
sight  of  a  bright  day ;  they  has  millions  of  steeples,  all  white 
and  glistering,  like  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  the  white  bears 
have  capital  times  trampin'  round  on  'em.  Would  n't  little 
Mara  like  a  great,  nice  white  bear  to  ride  on,  with  his  white 
fur,  so  soft  and  warm,  and  a  saddle  made  of  pearls,  and  a 
gold  bridle  ?  " 

"  You  hav'  n't  seen  any  little  girls  ride  so,"  said  Mara, 
doubtfully. 

"  I  should  n't  wonder  if  I  had  ;  but  you  see,  Mis'  Kittridge 
there,  she  won't  let  me  tell  all  I  know,"  said  the  Captain, 
sinking  his  voice  to  a  confidential  tone;  "you  jist  wait  till 
we  get  alone." 

"  But,  you  are  sure,9'  said  Mara,  confidingly,  in  return, 
"  that  white  bears  will  be  kind  to  Moses  ?  " 

"  Lord  bless  you,  yes,  child,  the  kindest  critturs  in  the 
world  they  be,  if  you  only  get  the  right  side  of  'em,"  said 
the  Captain. 

"  Oh,  yes  !  because,"  said  Mara,  "  I  know  how  good  a 
wolf  was  to  Romulus  and  Remus  once,  and  nursed  them 
when  they  were  cast  out  to  die.  I  read  that  in  the  Ro 
man  history." 

"  Jist  so,"  said  the  Captain,  enchanted  at  this  historic  con 
firmation  of  his  apocrypha. 

"  And  so,"  said  Mara,  "  if  Moses  should  happen  to  get  on 
an  iceberg,  a  bear  might  take  care  of  him,  you  know." 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  113 

"  Jist  so,  jist  so,"  said  the  Captain  ;  "  so  don't  you  worry 
your  little  curly  head  one  bit.  Some  time  when  you  come 
down  to  see  Sally,  we  '11  go  down  to  the  cove,  and  I  '11  tell 
you  lots  of  stories  about  chil'en  that  have  been  fetched  up 
by  white  bears,  jist  like  Romulus  and  what 's  his  name 
there  ? " 

"  Come,  Mis'  Kittridge,"  added  the  cheery  Captain ;  "  you 
and  I  must  n't  be  keepin'  the  folks  up  till  nine  o'clock." 

"  Well  now,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  in  a  doleful  tone,  as  she 
began  to  put  on  her  bonnet,  "  Mis'  Fennel,  you  must  keep 
up  your  spirits  —  it 's  one's  duty  to  take  cheerful  views  of 
things.  I  'm  sure  many 's  the  night,  when  the  Captain 's 
been  gone  to  sea,  I  Ve  laid  and  shook  in  my  bed,  hearin' 
the  wind  blow,  and  thinking  what  if  I  should  be  left  a  lone 
widow." 

u  There  'd  a-been  a  dozen  fellows  a-wanting  to  get  you  in 
six  months,  Polly,"  interposed  the  Captain.  "  Well,  good 
night,  Mis'  Fennel ;  there  '11  be  a  splendid  haul  of  fish  at 
the  Banks  this  year,  or  there  's  no  truth  in  signs.  Come, 
my  little  Mara,  got  a  kiss  for  the  dry  old  daddy  ?  That 's 
my  good  girl.  Well,  good-night,  and  the  Lord  bless  you." 

And  so  the  cheery  Captain  took  up  his  line  of  march 
homeward,  leaving  little  Mara's  head  full  of  dazzling  vis 
ions  of  the  land  of  romance  to  which  Moses  had  gone. 

She  was  yet  on  that  shadowy  boundary  between  the 
dreamland  of  childhood  and  the  real  land  of  life ;  so  all 
things  looked  to  her  quite  possible  —  and  gentle  white 
bears,  with*  warm,  soft  fur  and  pearl  and  gold  saddles, 
walked  through  her  dreams,  and  the  victorious  curls  of 
Moses  appeared,  with  his  bright  eyes  and  cheeks,  over 
glittering  pinnacles  of  frost  in  the  ice-land. 

J 


114  TFE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

JUNE  and  July  passed,  and  the  lonely  two  lived,  a  quiet 
life  in  the  brown  house.  Everything  was  so  still  and  fair 
—  no  sound  but  tfre  coming  and  going  tide,  and  the  sway 
ing  wind  among  the  pine-trees,  and  the  tick  of  the  clock, 
and  the  whirr  of  the  little  wheel  as  Mrs.  Fennel  sat  spin 
ning  in  her  door  in  the  mild  weather. 

Mara  read  the  Roman  history  through  again,  and  began  it 
a  third  time,  and  read  over  and  over  again  the  stories  and 
prophecies  that  pleased  her  in  the  Bible,  and  pondered  the 
wood-cuts  and  texts  in  a  very  old  edition  of  JEsop's  Fables, 
and  as  she  wandered  in  the  woods,  picking  fragrant  bay- 
berries  and  gathering  hemlock,  checkerberry,  and  sassafras 
to  put  in  the  beer  which  her  grandmother  brewed,  she 
rnused  on  the  things  that  she  read  till  her  little  mind  be 
came  a  tabernacle  of  solemn,  quaint,  dreamy  forms  —  where 
old  Judean  kings  and  prophets,  and  Roman  senators  and 
warriors,  marched  in  and  out  in  shadowy  rounds.  She  in 
vented  long  dramas  and  conversations  in  which  they  per 
formed  imaginary  parts,  and  it  would  not  have  appeared  to 
the  child  in  the  least  degree  surprising  either  to  have  met 
an  angel  in  the  woods,  or  to  have  formed  an  intimacy  with 
some  talking  wolf  or  bear,  such  as  she  read  of  in  ^Esop's 
Fables. 

One  day,  as  she  was  exploring  the  garret,  she  found  in  an 
old  barrel  of  cast-off  rubbish  a  bit  of  reading  which  she 
begged  of  her  grandmother  for  her  own. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  145 

It  was  the  play  of  the  "  Tempest,"  torn  from  an  old  edi 
tion  of  Shakspeare,  and  was  in  that  delightfully  fragmentary 
condition  which  most  particularly  pleases  children,  because 
they  conceive  a  mutilated  treasure  thus  found  to  be  more 
especially  their  own  property  —  something  like  a  rare  wild- 
flower  or  sea-shell.  The  pleasure  which  thoughtful  and  im 
aginative  children  sometimes  take  in  reading  that  which 
they  do  not  and  cannot  fully  comprehend,  is  one  of  the 
most  common  and  curious  phenomena  of  childhood. 

And  so  little  Mara  would  lie  for  hours  stretched  out  on 
the  pebbly  beach,  with  the  broad  open  ocean  before  her  and 
the  whispering  pines  and  hemlocks  behind  her,  and  pore 
over  this  poem,  from  which  she  collected  dim,  delightful 
images  of  a  lonely  island,  an  old  enchanter,  a  beautiful  girl, 
and  a  spirit  not  quite  like  those  in  the  Bible,  but  a  very 
probable  one  to  her  mode  of  thinking. 

As  for  old  Caliban,  she  fancied  him  with  a  face  much  like 
that  of  a  huge  skate-fish  she  had  once  seen  drawn  ashore  in 
one  of  her  grandfather's  nets,  —  and  then  there  was  the  beau 
tiful  young  Prince  Ferdinand,  much  like  what  Moses  would 
be  when  he  was  grown  up  —  and  how  glad  she  would  be  to 
pile  up  his  wood  for  him,  if  any  old  enchanter  should  set 
him  to  work  ! 

One  attribute  of  the  child  was  a  peculiar  shamefacedness 
and  shyness  about  her  inner  thoughts,  and  therefore  the 
wonder  that  this  new  treasure  excited,  the  host  of  sur 
mises  and  dreams  to  which  it  gave  rise,  were  never  men 
tioned  to  anybody.  That  it  was  all  of  it  as  much  authentic 
fact  as  the  Roman  history,  she  did  not  doubt,  but  whether  it 
had  happened  on  Orr's  Island  or  some  of  the  neighboring 
ones,  she  had  not  exactly  made  up  her  mind. 

She  resolved  at  her  earliest  leisure  to  consult  Captain 
7 


? 


146  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

Kittridge  on   the  subject,   wisely  considering   that  it  much 
resembled  some  of  his  fishy  and  aquatic  experiences. 

Some  of  the  little  songs  fixed  themselves  in  her  memory, 
and  she  would  hum  them  as  she  wandered  up  and  down  the 
beach. 

"  Come  unto  these  yellow  sands 

And  then  take  hands, 

Courtesied  when  you  have  and  kissed 

(The  wild  waves  wist), 

Foot  it  featly  here  and  there, 

And  sweet  sprites  the  burden  bear." 

And  another  which  pleased  her  still  more  :  — 

"Full  fathom  five  thy  father  lies; 

Of  his  bones  are  coral  made, 
Those  are  pearls  that  were  his  eyes; 

Nothing  of  him  that  can  fade 
But  doth  suffer  a  sea  change 
Into  something  rich  and  strange; 
Sea-nymphs  hourly  ring  his  knell  — 
Hark,  I  hear  them  —  ding,  dong,  bell." 

These  words  she  pondered  very  long,  gravely  revolving 
in  her  little  head  whether  they  described  the  usual  course  of 
things  in  the  mysterious  under-world  that  lay  beneath  that 
blue  spangled  floor  of  the  sea  —  whether  everybody's  eyes 
changed  to  pearl,  and  their  bones  to  coral,  if  they  sunk  down 
there  —  and  whether  the  sea-nymphs  spoken  of  were  the 
same  as  the  mermaids  that  Captain  Kittridge  had  told  of. 
Had  he  not  said  that  the  bell  rung  for  church  of  a  Sunday 
morning  down  under  the  waters  ? 

Mara  vividly  remembered  the  scene  on  the  sea-beach,  the 
finding  of  little  Moses  and  his  mother,  the  dream  of  the  pale 
lady  that  seemed  to  'bring  him  to  her ;  and  not  one  of  the 
conversations  that  had  transpired  before  her  among  differ 
ent  gossips  had  been  lost  on  her  quiet,  listening  little  ears. 


0U>r>^ 
THE  PEARL  "OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  147 

These   pale,  still   children   that   play  without   making   any 

,  noise,  are  deep  wells  into  which  drop  many  things  which  lie 

long  and  quietly  on  the  bottom,  and  come  up  in  after  years 

whole  and  new,  when  everybody  else  has  forgotten  them. 

So  she  had  heard  surmises  as  to  the  remaining  crew  of 
that  unfortunate  ship  —  where,  perhaps,  Moses  had  a  father. 
And  sometimes  she  wondered  if  he  were  lying  fathoms  deep 
with  sea-nymphs  ringing  his  knell,  and  whether  Moses  ever 
thought  about  him  ;  and  yet  she  could  no  more  have  asked 
him  a  question  about  it  than  if  she  had  been  born  dumb. 
She  decided  that  she  should  never  show  him  this  poetry  — 
it  might  make  him  feel  unhappy. 

One  bright  afternoon,  when  the  sea  lay  all  dead  asleep,  and 
the  long,  steady  respiration  of  its  tides  scarcely  disturbed 
the  glassy  tranquillity  of  its  bosom,  Mrs.  Fennel  sat  at  her 
kitchen-door  spinning,  when  Captain  Kittridge  appeared. 

"  Good-afternoon,  Mis'  Pennel ;  how  ye  gettin'  along  ?  " 

"  Oh,  pretty  well,  Captain  ;  won't  you  walk  in  and  have 
a  glass  of  beer  ?  " 

"  Well,  thank  you,"  said  the  Captain,  raising  his  hat  and 
wiping  his  forehead,  "  I  be  pretty  dry,  it 's  a  fact." 

Mrs.  Pennel  hastened  to  a  cask  which  was  kept  standing 
in  a  corner  of  the  kitchen,  and  drew  from  thence  a  mug  of 
her  own  home-brewed,  fragrant  with  the  smell  of  juniper, 
hemlock,  and  wintergreen,  which  she  presented  to  the  Cap 
tain,  who  sat  down  in  the  door-way  and  discussed  it  in  lei 
surely  sips. 

"  WaV,  s'pose  it 's  most  time  to  be  lookin'  for  'em  home, 
a'n't  it  ?  "  he  said. 

"  I  am  lookin'  every  day,"  said  Mrs.  Pennel,  involuntarily 
glancing  upward  at  the  sea. 

At  the  word  appeared  the  vision  of  little  Mara,  who  rose 


148  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

up  like  a  spirit  from  a  dusky  corner,  where  she  had  been 
stooping  over  her  reading.  » 

"  Why,  little  Mara,"  said  the  Captain,  "  you  ris  up  like  a 
ghost  all  of  a  sudden.  I  thought  you  's  out  to  play.  I  come 
down  a-purpose  arter  you.  Mis'  Kittridge  has  gone  shoppin' 
up  to  Brunswick,  and  left  Sally  a  *  stent '  to  do ;  and  I  prom 
ised  her  if  she  'd  clap  to  and  do  it  quick,  I  'd  go  up  and  fetch 
you  down,  and  we  'd  have  a  play  in  the  cove." 

Mara's  eyes  brightened,  as  they  always  did  at  this  pros 
pect,  and  Mrs.  Pennel  said,  "  Well,  I  'm  glad  to  have  the 
child  go ;  she  seems  so  kind  o'  still  and  lonesome  since 
Moses  went  away ;  really  one  feels  as  if  that  boy  took  all 
the  noise  there  was  with  him.  I  get  tired  myself  sometimes 
hearing  the  clock  tick.  Mara,  when  she  's  alone,  takes  to 
her  book  more  than  's  good  for  a  child." 

u  She  does,  does  she  ?  Well,  we  '11  see  about  that.  Come, 
little  Mara,  get  on  your  sun-bonnet.  Sally  's  sewin'  fast  as 
ever  she  can,  and  we  V  goin'  to  dig  some  clams,  and  make  a 
fire,  and  have  a  chowder  ;  that  '11  be  nice,  won't  it  ?  Don't 
you  want  to  come,  too,  Mis'  Pennel  ?  " 

"  Oh,  thank  you,  Captain,  but  I  've  got  so  many  things  on 
hand  to  do  afore  they  come  home,  I  don't  really  think  I  can. 
I  '11  trust  Mara  to  you  any  day." 

Mara  had  run  into  her  own  little  room  and  secured  her 
precious  fragment  of  treasure,  which  she  wrapped  up  care 
fully  in  her  handkerchief,  resolving  to  enlighten  Sally  with 
the  story,  and  to  consult  the  Captain  on  any  nice  points  of 
criticism.  Arrived  at  the  cove,  they  found  Sally  already 
there  in  advance  of  them,  clapping  her  hands  and  dancing  in 
a  manner  which  made  her  black  elf-locks  fly  like  those  of  a 
distracted  creature. 

"  Now,  Sally,"  said  the  Captain,  imitating,  in   a  humble 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND.  149 

way,  his  wife 's  manner,  "  are  you  sure  you  've  finished  your 
work  well?" 

"  Yes,  father,  every  stitch  on  V 

"  And  stuck  in  your  needle,  and  folded  it  up,  and  put  it  in 
the  drawer,  and  put  away  your  thimble,  and  shet  the  drawer, 
and  all  the  rest  on  't  ?  "  said  the  Captain. 

"  Yes,  father,"  said  Sally,  gleefully,  "  I  've  done  everything 
I  could  think  of." 

"  'Cause  you  know  your  ma  '11  be  arter  ye,  if  you  don't 
leave  everything  straight." 

"  Oh,  never  you  fear,  father,  I  've  done  it  all  half  an  hour 
ago,  and  I  've  found  the  most  capital  bed  of  clams  just  round 
the  point  here  ;  and  you  take  care  of  Mara  there,  and  make 
up  a  fire  while  I  dig  'em.  If  she  comes,  she  '11  be  sure  to 
wet  her  shoes,  or  spoil  her  frock,  or  something." 

"  Wai',  she  likes  no  better  fun  now,"  said  the  Captain, 
watching  Sally,  as  she  disappeared  round  the  rock  with  a 
bright  tin  pan. 

He  then  proceeded  to  construct  an  extemporary  fireplace 
of  loose  stones,  and  to  put  together  chips  and  shavings  for 
the  fire,  —  in  which  work  little  Mara  eagerly  assisted  ;  but 
the  fire  was  crackling  and  burning  cheerily  long  before  Sally 
appeared  with  her  clams,  and  so  the  Captain,  with  a  pile  of 
hemlock  boughs  by  his  side,  sat  on  a  stone  feeding  the  fire 
leisurely  from  time  to  time  with  crackling  boughs.  Now 
was  the  time  for  Mara  to  make  her  inquiries  ;  her  heart 
beat,  she  knew  not  why,  for  she  was  full  of  those  little  ti 
midities  arid  shames  that  so  often  embarrass  children  in  their 
attempts  to  get  at  the  meanings  of  things  in  this  great  world, 
where  they  are  such  ignorant  spectators. 

"  Captain  Kittridge,"  she  said  at  last,  "  do  the  mermaids 
toll  any  bells  for  people  when  they  are  drowned  ?  " 


150  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Now  the  Captain  had  never  been  known  to  indicate  the 
least  ignorance  on  any  subject  in  heaven  or  earth,  which 
any  one  wished  his  opinion  on ;  he  therefore  leisurely  poked 
another  great  crackling  bough  of  green  hemlock  into  the 
fire,  and,  Yankee-like,  answered  one  question  by  asking 
another,  —  "  What  put  that  into  your  curly  pate  ?  "  he  said. 

"  A  book  I  've  been  reading  says  they  do,  —  that  is  sea- 
nymphs  do.  A'n't  sea-nymphs  and  mermaids  the  same 
thing  ?  " 

"  Wai',  I  guess  they  be,  pretty  much,"  said  the  Captain, 
rubbing  down  his  pantaloons  ;  "  yes,  they  be,"  he  added,  after 
reflection. 

"  And  when  people  are  drowned,  how  long  does  it  take 
for  their  bones  to  turn  into  coral,  and  their  eyes  into  pearl  ?  " 
said  little  Mara. 

"  Well,  that  depends  upon  circumstances,"  said  the  Cap 
tain,  who  was  n't  going  to  be  posed ;  "  but  let  me  jist  see 
your  book  you  've  been  reading  these  things  out  of." 

"  I  found  it  in  a  barrel  up  garret,  and  grandma  gave  it  to 
me,"  said  Mara,  unrolling  her  handkerchief;  "  it 's  a  beautiful 
book,  —  it  tells  about  an  island,  and  there  was  an  old  en 
chanter  lived  on  it,  and  he  had  one  daughter,  and  there  was 
a  spirit  they  called  Ariel,  whom  a  wicked  old  witch  fastened 
in  a  split  of  a  pine-tree,  till  the  enchanter  got  him  out.  He 
was  a  beautiful  spirit,  and  rode  in  the  curled  clouds  and  hung 
in  flowers,  —  because  he  could  make  himself  big  or  little, 
you  see." 

"  Ah,  yes,  I  see,  to  be  sure,"  said  the  Captain,  nodding  his 
head. 

a  Well,  that  about  sea-nymphs  ringing  his  knell  is  here," 
Mara  added,  beginning  to  read  the  passage  with  wide,  di 
lated  eyes  and  great  emphasis.  "  You  see,"  she  went  on, 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  151 

speaking  very  fast,  "  this  enchanter  had  been  a  prince,  and 
a  wicked  brother  had  contrived  to  send  him  to  sea  with  his 
poor  little  daughter,  in  a  ship  so  leaky  that  the  very  rats  had 
left  it." 

"  Bad  business  that ! "  said  the  Captain,  attentively. 

"  Well,"  said  Mrfra,  ."  they  got  cast  ashore  on  this  desolate 
island,  where  they  lived  together.  But  once,  when  a  ship 
was  going  by  on  the  sea  that  had  his  wicked  brother  and  his 
son  —  a  real  good,  handsome  young  prince  —  in  it,  why  then 
he  made  a  storm  by  magic  arts." 

"  Jist  so,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  that 's  been  often  done,  to 
my  sartin  knowledge." 

"  And  he  made  the  ship  be  wrecked  and  all  the  people 
thrown  ashore,  but  there  was  n't  any  of  'em  drowned,  and  this 
handsome  prince  heard  Ariel  singing  this  song  about  his 
father,  and  it  made  him  think  he  was  dead." 

"  Well,  what  became  of  'em  ?  "  interposed  Sally,  who  had 
come  up  with  her  pan  of  clams  in  time  to  hear  this  story,  to 
which  she  had  listened  with  breathless  interest. 

"  Oh,  the  beautiful  young  prince  married  the  beautiful 
young  lady,"  said  Mara. 

"  Wai',"  said  the  Captain,  who  by  this  time  had  found  his 
soundings ;  "  that  you  've  been  a-tellin'  is  what  they  call  a 
play,  and  I  've  seen  'em  act  it  at  a  theatre,  when  I  was  to 
Liverpool  once.  I  know  all  about  it.  Shakspeare  wrote 
it,  and  he  's  a  great  English  poet." 

"  But  did  it  ever  happen  ?  "  said  Mara,  trembling  between 
hope  and  fear.  "  Is  it  like  the  Bible  and  Roman  history  ?  " 

"  Why,  no,"  said  Captain  Kittridge,  "  not  exactly  ;  but 
things  jist  like  it,  you  know.  Mermaids  and  sich  is  com 
mon  in  foreign  parts,  and  they  has  funerals  for  drowned 
sailors.  'Member  once  when  we  was  sailing  near  the  Ber- 


152  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

mudas  by  a  reef  where  the  Lively  Fanny  went  down,  and  I 
heard  a  kind  o'  ding-dongin',  —  and  the  waters  there  is  clear 
as  the  sky,  —  and  I  looked  down  and  see  the  coral  all  a- 
growiiT,  and  the  sea-plants  a-wavin'  as  handsome  as  a  pic- 
tur',  and  the  mermaids  they  was  a-singin'.  It  was  beautiful ; 
they  sung  kind  o'  mournful ;  and  Jack  Hubbard,  he  would 
have  it  they  was  a-singin'  for  the  poor  fellows  that  was 
a-lyin'  there  round  under  the  sea-weed." 

"  But,"  said  Mara,  "  did  you  ever  see  an  enchanter  that 
could  make  storms  ?  " 

"  WaV,  there  be  witches  and  conjurers  that  make  storms. 
'Member  once  when  we  was  crossin'  the  line,  about  twelve 
o'clock  at  night,  there  was  an  old  man  with  a  long  white 
beard  that  shone  like  silver,  came  and  stood  at  the  mast-head, 
and  he  had  a  pitchfork  in  one  hand,  and  a  lantern  in  the 
other,  and  there  was  great  balls  of  fire  as  big  as  my  fist 
came  out  all  round  in  the  rigging.  And  I  '11  tell  you  if  we 
did  n't  get  a  blow  that  ar  night !  I  thought  to  my  soul  we 
should  all  go  to  the  bottom." 

"  Why,"  said  Mara,  her  eyes  staring  with  excitement, 
"  that  was  just  like  this  shipwreck  ;  and  't  was  Ariel  made 
those  balls  of  fire ;  he  says  so ;  he  said  he  '  flamed  amaze 
ment  '  all  over  the  ship." 

"  I  've  heard  Miss  Roxy  tell  about  witches  that  made 
storms,"  said  Sally. 

The  Captain  leisurely  proceeded  to  open  the  clams,  sepa 
rating  from  the  shells  the  contents,  which  he  threw  into  a 
pan,  meanwhile  placing  a  black  pot  over  the  fire  in  which 
he  had  previously  arranged  certain  slices  of  salt  pork,  which 
soon  began  frizzling  in  the  heat. 

"  Now,  Sally,  you  peel  them  potatoes,  and  mind  you  slice 
em  thin,"  he  said,  and  Sally  soon  was  busy  with  her  work. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  153 

"  Yes,"  said  the  Captain,  going  on  with  his  part  of  the 
arrangement,  "  there  was  old  Polly  Twichell,  that  lived  in 
that  ar  old  tumble-down  house  on  Mure  P'int ;  people  used 
to  say  she  brewed  storms,  and  went  to  sea  in  a  sieve." 

"Went  in  a  sieve!"  said  both  children;  "why  a  sieve 
would  n't  swim  !  " 

"  No  more  it  would  n't,  in  any  Christian  way,"  said  the 
Captain ;  "  but  that  was  to  show  what  a  great  witch  she 
was." 

"  But  this  was  a  good  enchanter,"  said  Mara,  "  and  he  did 
it  all  by  a  book  and  a  rod." 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  the  Captain  ;  "  that  ar 's  the  gen'l  way 
magicians  do,  ever  since  Moses'  time  in  Egypt.  'Member 
once  I  was  to  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  and  I  saw  a  magician 
there  that  could  jist  see  everything  you  ever  did  in  your  life 
in  a  drop  of  ink  that  he  held  in  his  hand." 

"  He  could,  father  !  " 

"  To  be  sure  he  could !  told  me  all  about  the  old  folks  at 
home  ;  and  described  our  house  as  natural  as  if  he  'd  a-been 
there.  He  used  to  carry  snakes  round  with  him,  —  a  kind 
so  p'ison  that  it  was  certain  death  to  have  'em  bite  you  ;  but 
he  played  with  'em  as  if  they  was  kittens." 

"  Well,"  said  Mara,  "  my  enchanter  was  a  king ;  and 
when  he  got  through  all  he  wanted,  and  got  his  daughter 
married  to  the  beautiful  young  prince,  he  said  he  would 
break  his  staff,  and  deeper  than  plummet  sounded  he  would 
bury  his  book." 

"  It  was  pretty  much  the  best  thing  he  could  do,"  said  the 
Captain,  "  because  the  Bible  is  agin  such  things." 

"  Is  it  ?  "  said  Mara  ;  "  why,  he  was  a  real  good  man." 

"  Oh,  well,  you  know,  we  all  on  us  does  what  a'n't  quite 
right  sometimes,  when  we  gets  pushed  up,"  said  the  Captain, 
7* 


154  THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND. 

who  now  began  arranging  the  clams  and  sliced  potatoes  in 
alternate  layers  with  sea-biscuit,  strewing  in  salt  and  pepper 
as  he  went  on ;  and,  in  a  few  moments,  a  smell,  fragrant  to 
hungry  senses,  began  to  steam  upward,  and  Sally  began 
washing  and  preparing  some  mammoth  clam-shells,  to  serve 
as  ladles  and  plates  for  the  future  chowder. 

Mara,  who  sat  with  her  morsel  of  a  book  in  her  lap, 
seemed  deeply  pondering  the  past  conversation.  At  last  she 
said,  "  What  did  you  mean  by  saying  you  'd  seen  'em  act 
that  at  a  theatre  ?  " 

"  Why,  they  make  it  all  seem  real ;  and  they  have  a  ship 
wreck,  and  you  see  it  all  jist  right  afore  your  eyes." 

"And  the  Enchanter,  and  Ariel,  and  Caliban,  and  all?" 
said  Mara. 

"  Yes,  all  on  't,  —  plain  as  printing." 

"  Why,  that  is  by  magic,  a'n't  it  ?"  said  Mara. 

"  No ;  they  hes  ways  to  jist  make  it  up ;  but,"  —  added 
the  Captain,  "  Sally,  you  need  n't  say  nothin'  to  your  ma 
'bout  the  theatre,  'cause  she  would  n't  think  I 's  fit  to  go  to 
meetin'  for  six  months  arter,  if  she  heard  on  't." 

"  Why,  a'n't  theatres  good  ?  "  said  Sally. 

"  Wai,  there  's  a  middlin'  sight  o'  bad  things  in  'em,"  said 
the  Captain,  "  that  I  must  say ;  but  as  long  as  folks  is  folks, 
why,  they  will  be  folksy  ;  —  but  there  's  never  any  makin' 
women  folk  understand  about  them  ar  things." 

"  I  am  sorry  they  are  bad,"  said  Mara ;  "  I  want  to  see 
them." 

"  Wai',  wal',"  said  the  Captain,  "  on  the  hull  I  've  seen 
raal  things  a  good  deal  more  wonderful  than  all  their  shows, 
and  they  ha'n't  no  make-b'lieve  to  'em  —  but  theatres  is 
takin'  arter  all.  But,  Sally,  mind  you  don't  say  nothin'  to 
Mis'  Kittridge." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  155 

A  few  moments  more  and  all  discussion  was  lost  in  prep 
arations  for  the  meal,  and  each  one  receiving  a  portion  of 
the  savory  stew  in  a  large  shell,  made  a  spoon  of  a  small 
cockle,  and  with  some  slices  of  bread  and  butter,  the  even 
ing  meal  went  off  merrily.  The  sun  was  sloping  toward  the 
ocean  ;  the  wide  blue  floor  was  bedropped  here  and  there 
with  rosy  shadows  of  sailing  clouds.  Suddenly  the  Cap 
tain  sprang  up,  calling  out,  — 

"  Sure  as  I  'm  alive,  there  they  be  ! " 

"  Who  ?  "  exclaimed  the  children. 

"  Why,  Captain  Fennel  and  Moses  ;  don't  you  see  ?  " 

And,  in  fact,  on  the  outer  circle  of  the  horizon  came  drift 
ing  a  line  of  small  white-breasted  vessels,  looking  like  so 
many  doves. 

"  Them 's  'em,"  said  the  Captain,  while  Mara  danced  for 

j°y- 

"  How  soon  will  they  be  here  ?  " 

"  Afore  long,"  said  the  Captain ;  "  so,  Mara,  I  guess  you  '11 
want  to  be  getting  hum." 


156  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MRS.  FENNEL,  too,  had  seen  the  white,  dove-like  cloud 
on  the  horizon,  and  had  hurried  to  make  biscuits,  and  con 
duct  other  culinary  preparations  which  should  welcome  the 
wanderers  home. 

The  sun  was  just  dipping  into  the  great  blue  sea  —  a 
round  ball  of  fire  —  and  sending  long,  slanting  tracks  of 
light  across  the  top  of  each  wave,  when  a  boat  was  moored 
at  the  beach,  and  the  minister  sprang  out,  —  not  in  his  suit 
of  ceremony,  but  attired  in  fisherman's  gai-b. 

"  Good-afternoon,  Mrs.  Fennel,"  he  said.  "  I  was  out 
fishing,  and  I  thought  I  saw  your  husband's  schooner  in  the 
distance.  I  thought  I  'd  come  and  tell  you." 

"  Thank  you,  Mr.  Sewell.  I  thought  I  saw  it,  but  I  was 
not  certain.  Do  come  in ;  the  Captain  would  be  delighted 
to  see  you  here." 

"  We  miss  your  husband  in  our  meetings,"  said  Mr.  Sew 
ell ;  "  it  will  be  good  news  for  us  all  when  he  comes  home ; 
he  is  one  of  those  I  depend  on  to  help  me  preach." 

"  I  'm  sure  you  don't  preach  to  anybody  who  enjoys  it 
more,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel.  "  He  often  tells  me  that  the 
greatest  trouble  about  his  voyages  to  the  Banks  is  that  he 
loses  so  many  sanctuary  privileges ;  though  he  always  keeps 
Sunday  on  his  ship,  and  reads  and  sings  his  psalms ;  but,  he 
says,  after  all,  there  's  nothing  like  going  to  Mount  Zion." 

"  And  little  Moses  has  gone  on  his  first  voyage  ? "  said 
the  minister. 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  157 

"  Yes,  indeed ;  the  child  has  been  teasing  to  go  for  more 
than  a  year.  Finally  the  Cap'n  told  him  if  he  'd  be  faithful 
in  the  ploughing  and  planting  he  should  go.  You  see,  he  's 
rather  unsteady,  and  apt  to  be  off  after  other  things,  —  very 
different  from  Mara.  Whatever  you  give  her  to  do  she 
always  keeps  at  it  till  it 's  done." 

"  And  pray,  where  is  the  little  lady  ?  "  said  the  minister  ; 
"  is  she  gone  ?  " 

"  Well,  Cap'n  Kittridge  came  in  this  afternoon  to  take  her 
down  to  see  Sally.  The  Cap'n  's  always  so  fond  of  Mara, 
and  she  has  always  taken  to  him  ever  since  she  was  a  baby." 

"  The  Captain  is  a  curious  creature,"  said  the  minister, 
smiling. 

Mrs.  Pennel  smiled  also ;  and  it  is  to  be  remarked  that 
nobody  ever  mentioned  the  poor  Captain's  name  without  the 
same  curious  smile. 

"  The  Cap'n  is  a  good-hearted,  obliging  creature,"  said 
Mrs.  Pennel,  "  and  a  master-hand  for  telling  stories  to  the 
children." 

"  Yes,  a  perfect  *  Arabian  Nights'  Entertainment,' "  said 
Mr.  Sewell. 

"Well,  I  really  believe  the  Cap'n  believes  his  own 
stories,"  said  Mrs.  Pennel ;  "  he  always  seems  to,  and  cer 
tainly  a  more  obliging  man  and  a  kinder  neighbor  could  n't 
be.  He  has  been  in  and  out  almost  every  day  since  I  've 
been  alone,  to  see  if  I  wanted  anything.  He  would  insist 
on  chopping  wood  and  splitting  kindlings  for  me,  though  I 
told  him  the  Cap'n  and  Moses  had  left  a  plenty  to  last  till 
they  came  home." 

At  this  moment  the  subject  of  their  conversation  appeared 
striding  along  the  beach,  with  a  large,  red  lobster  in  one 
hand,  while  with  the  other  he  held  little  Mara  upon  his 


158  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

shoulder,  she  the  while  clapping  her  hands  and  singing  mer 
rily,  as  she  saw  the  Brilliant  out  on  the  open  blue  sea,  its 
white  sails  looking  of  a  rosy  purple  in  the  evening  light, 
careering  gayly  homeward. 

"  There  is  Captain  Kittridge  this  very  minute,"  said  Mrs. 
Pennel,  setting  down  a  teacup  she  had  been  wiping,  and 
going  to  the  door. 

"  Good-evening,  Mis'  Pennel,"  said  the  Captain.  "  I 
s'pose  you  see  your  folks  are  comin'.  I  brought  down  one 
of  these  'ere  ready  b'iled,  'cause  I  thought -it  might  make 
out  your  supper." 

"  Thank  you,  Captain  ;  you  must  stay  and  take  some  with 
us." 

"  Wai',  me  and  the  children  have  pooty  much  done  our 
supper,"  said  the  Captain.  "We  made  a  real  fust-rate 
chowder  down  there  to  the  cove  ;  but  I  '11  jist  stay  and  see 
what  the  Cap'n's  luck  is.  Massy  !  "  he  added,  as  he  looked 
in  at  the  door,  "  if  you  ha'n't  got  the  minister  there  !  Wai', 
now,  I  come  jist  as  I  be,"  he  added,  with  a  glance  down  at 
his  clothes. 

"  Never  mind,  Captain,"  said  Mr.  Sewell ;  "  I  'm  in  my 
fishing-clothes,  so  we  're  even." 

As  to  little  Mara,  she  had  run  down  to  the  beach,  and 
stood  so  near  the  sea,  that  every  dash  of  the  tide-wave  forced 
her  little  feet  to  tread  an  inch  backward,  stretching  out  her 
hands  eagerly  toward  the  schooner,  which  was  standing 
straight  toward  the  small  wharf,  not  far  from  their  door. 
Already  she  could  see  on  deck  figures  moving  about,  and 
her  sharp  little  eyes  made  out  a  small  personage  in  a  red 
shirt  that  was  among  the  most  active.  Soon  all  the  figures 
grew  distinct,  and  she  could  see  her  grandfather's  gray  head, 
and  alert,  active  form,  and  could  see,  by  the  signs  he  made, 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  159 

that  he  had  perceived  the  little  blowy  figure  that  stood,  with 
hair  streaming  in  the  wind,  like  some  flower  bent  seaward. 

And  now  they  are  come  nearer,  and  Moses  shouts  and 
dances  on  the  deck,  and  the  Captain  and  Mrs.  Fennel  come 
running  from  the  house  down  to  the  shore,  and  a  few  min 
utes  more,  and  all  are  landed  safe  and  sound,  and  little  Mara 
is  carried  up  to  the  house  in  her  grandfather's  arms,  while 
Captain  Kittridge  stops  to  have  a  few  moments'  gossip  with 
Ben  Halliday  and  Tom  Scranton  before  they  go  to  their  own 
resting-places. 

Meanwhile  Moses  loses  not  a  moment  in  boasting  of  his 
heroic  exploits  to  Mara. 

"  Oh,  Mara  !  you  've  no  idea  what  times  we  've  had  !  I 
can  fish  equal  to  any  of  'em,  and  I  can  take  in  sail  and  tend 
the  helm  like  anything,  and  I  know  all  the  names  of  every 
thing  ;  and  you  ought  to  have  seen  us  catch  fish  !  Why, 
they  bit  just  as  fast  as  we  could  throw  ;  and  it  was  just 
throw  and  bite,  —  throw  and  bite,  —  throw  and  bite  ;  and 
my  hands  got  blistered  pulling  in,  but  I  did  n't  mind  it,  —  I 
was  determined  no  one  should  beat  me." 

"  Oh  !  did  you  blister  your  hands  ?  "  said  Mara,  pitifully. 

"  Oh,  to  be  sure  !  Now,  you  girls  think  that 's  a  dreadful 
thing,  but  we  men  don't  mind  it.  My  hands  are  getting  so 
hard,  you  've  no  idea.  And,  Mara,  we  caught  a  great 
shark." 

"  A  shark  !  —  oh,  how  dreadful !     Is  n't  he  dangerous  ?  " 

"  Dangerous !  I  guess  not.  We  served  him  out,  I  tell 
you.  He  '11  never  eat  any  more  people,  I  tell  you,  the  old 
wretch  !  " 

"But,  poor  shark,  it  isn't  his  fault  that  he  eats  people. 
He  was  made  so,"  said  Mara,  unconsciously  touching  a  deep 
theological  mystery. 


160  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Well,  I  don't  know  but  he  was,"  said  Moses ;  "  but 
sharks  that  we  catch  never  eat  any  more,  I'll  bet  you" 

"  Oh,  Moses,  did  you  see  any  icebergs  ?  " 

"  Icebergs  !  yes  ;  we  passed  right  by  one,  —  a  real  grand 
one." 

"  Were  there  any  bears  on  it  ?  " 

"  Bears !     No  ;  we  did  n't  see  any." 

"  Captain  Kittridge  says  there  are  white  bears  live  on 
'em." 

"  Oh,  Captain  Kittridge,"  said  Moses,  with  a  toss  of  su 
perb  contempt;  "if  you're  going  to  believe  all  he  says, 
you  've  got  your  hands  full." 

"  Why,  Moses,  you  don't  think  he  tells  lies  ?  "  said  Mara, 
the  tears  actually  starting  in  her  eyes.  "  I  think  he  is  real 
good,  and  tells  nothing  but  the  truth." 

"Well,  well,  you  are  young  yet,"  said  Moses,  turning 
away  with  an  air  of  easy  grandeur,  "  and  only  a  girl  be 
sides,"  he  added. 

Mara  was  nettled  at  this  speech.  First,  it  pained  her  to 
have  her  child's  faith  shaken  in  anything,  and  particularly  in 
her  good  old  friend,  the  Captain ;  and  next,  she  felt,  with 
more  force  than  ever  she  did  before,  the  continual  disparag 
ing  tone  in  which  Moses  spoke  of  her  girlhood. 

"  I  'm  sure,"  she  said  to  herself,  "  he  ought  n't  to  feel  so 
about  girls  and  women.  There  was  Deborah  was  a  prophet 
ess,  and  judged  Israel ;  and  there  was  Egeria,  —  she  taught 
Numa  Pompilius  all  his  wisdom." 

But  it  was  not  the  little  maiden's  way  to  speak  when  any 
thing  thwarted  or  hurt  herjbut  rather  to  fold  all  her  feelings 
and  thoughts  inward,  as  some  insects,  with  fine  gauzy  wings, 
draw  them  under  a  coat  of  horny  concealment.  ( 

Somehow,  there  was  a  shivering  sense  of  disappointment 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  161 

in  all  this  meeting  with  Moses.  She  had  dwelt  upon  it,  and 
fancied  so  much,  and  had  so  many  things  to  say  to  him ;  and 
ho  had  come  home  so  self-absorbed  and  glorious,  and  seemed 
to  have  had  so  little  need  of  or  thought  for  her,  that  she  felt 
a  cold,  sad  sinking  at  her  heart ;  and  walking  away  very 
still  and  white,  sat  down  demurely  by  her  grandfather's  knee. 

"  Well,  so  my  little  girl  is  glad  grandfather 's  come,"  he 
said,  lifting  her  fondly  in  his  arms,  and  putting  her  golden 
head  under  his  coat,  as  he  had  been  wont  to  do  from  in 
fancy  ;  "  grandpa  thought  a  great  deal  about  his  little  Mara." 

The  small  heart  swelled  against  his.  Kind,  faithful  old 
grandpa !  how  much  more  he  thought  about  her  than  Mo 
ses  ;  and  yet  she  had  thought  so  much  of  Moses. 

And  there  he  sat,  this  same  ungrateful  Moses,  bright-eyed 
and  rosy-cheeked,  full  of  talk  and  gayety,  full  of  energy  and 
vigor,  as  ignorant  as  possible  of  the  wound  he  had  given  to 
the  little  loving  heart  that  was  silently  brooding  under  her 
grandfather's  butternut-colored  sea-coat.  Not  only  was  he 
ignorant,  but  he  had  not  even  those  conditions  within  him 
self  which  made  knowledge  possible. 

All   that  there  was  developed  of  him,  at  present,  was  a 
fund  of  energy,  self-esteem,  hope,  courage,  and  daring,  the 
love  of  action,  life,  and  adventure ;  his  life  was  in  the  out 
ward  and  present,  not  in  the  inward  and  reflective  ;  he  was 
a  true  ten-year  old  boy,  in  its  healthiest  and  most  animal  , 
perfection.     What  she  was,  the  small  pearl  with  the  golden 
hair,  with  her  frail  and  high-strung  organization,  her  sen 
sitive  nerves,  her  half-spiritual   fibres,  her  ponderings,   and  i 
marvels,  and  dreams,  her  power  of  love,  and  yearning  for  i 
self-devotion,  our  readers  may,  perhaps,  have  seen.     But  if 
ever  two  children,  or  two  grown  people,  thus  organized,  are 
thrown  into  intimate  relations,  it  follows,  from  the  very  laws 


162  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

I  of  their  being,  that  one  must  hurt  the  other,  simply  by  being 
itself ;  one  must  always  hunger  for  what  the  other  has  not 
to  give.  1 

It  was  a  merry  meal,  however,  when  they  all  sat  down  to 
the  tea-table  once  more,  and  Mara  by  her  grandfather's  side, 
who  often  stopped  what  he  was  saying  to  stroke  her  head 
fondly.  Moses  bore  a  more  prominent  part  in  the  conversa 
tion  than  he  had  been  wont  to  do  before  this  voyage,  and  all 
seemed  to  listen  to  him  with  a  kind  of  indulgence  elders 
often  accord  to  a  handsome,  manly  boy,  in  the  first  flush  of 
some  successful  enterprise. 

That  ignorant  confidence  in  one's  self  and  one's  future, 
which  comes  in  life's  first  dawn,  has  a  sort  of  mournful 
charm  in  experienced  eyes,  who  know  how  much  it  all 
amounts  to. 

Gradually,  little  Mara  quieted  herself  with  listening  to 
and  admiring  him. 

It  is  not  comfortable  to  have  any  heart-quarrel  with  one's 
cherished  idol,  and  everything  of  the  feminine  nature,  there 
fore,  can  speedily  find  fifty  good  reasons  for  seeing  one's  self 
in  the  wrong  and  one's  graven  image  in  the  right ;  and  little 
Mara  soon  had  said  to  herself,  without  words,  that,  of  course, 
Moses  could  n't  be  expected  to  think  as  much  of  her  as  she 
of  him.  He  was  handsomer,  cleverer,  and  had  a  thousand 
other  things  to  do  and  to  think  of —  he  was  a  boy,  in  short, 
and  going  to  be  a  glorious  man  and  sail  all  over  the  world, 
while  she  could  only  hem  handkerchiefs  and  knit  stockings, 
and  sit  at  home  and  wait  for  him  to  come  back.  This  was 
about  the  resume  of  life  as  it  appeared,  to  the  little  one,  who 
went  on  from  the  moment  worshipping  her  image  with  more 
undivided  idolatry  than  ever,  hoping  that  by  and  by  he 
would  think  more  of  her. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  163 

Mr.  Sewell  appeared  to  study  Moses  carefully  and  thought 
fully,  and  encouraged  the  wild,  gleeful  frankness  which  he 
had  brought  home  from  his  first  voyage,  as  a  knowing  jockey 
tries  the  paces  of  a  high-mettled  colt. 

"  Did  you  get  any  time  to  read  ?  "  he  interposed  once, 
when  the  boy  stopped  in  his  account  of  their  adventures. 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Moses ;  u  at  least,"  he  added,  blushing 
very  deeply,  "  I  did  n't  feel  like  reading.  I  had  so  much  to 
do,  and  there  was  so  much  to  see." 

"  It 's  all  new  to  him  now,"  said  Captain  Fennel ;  "  but 
when  he  comes  to  being,  as  I  've  been,  day  after  day,  with 
nothing  but  sea  and  sky,  he  '11  be  glad  of  a  book,  just  to 
break  the  sameness." 

"  Laws,  yes,"  said  Captain  Kittridge ;  "  sailor's  life  a'n't 
all  apple-pie,  as  it  seems  when  a  boy  first  goes  on  a  summer 
trip  with  his  daddy  —  not  by  no  manner  o'  means." 

"  But,"  said  Mara,  blushing  and  looking  very  eagerly  at 
Mr.  Sewell,  "  Moses  has  read  a  great  deal.  He  read  the 
Roman  and  the  Grecian  history  through  before  he  went 
away,  and  knows  all  about  them." 

"  Indeed  ! "  said  Mr.  Sewell,  turning  with  an  amused  look 
towards  the  tiny  little  champion  ;  "  do  you  read  them,  too, 
my  little  maid  ?  " 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  Mara,  her  eyes  kindling ;  "  I  have 
read  them  a  great  deal  since  Moses  went  away  —  them 
and  the  Bible." 

Mara  did  not  dare  to  name  her  new-found  treasure  — 
there  was  something  so  mysterious  about  that,  that  she  could 
not  venture  to  produce  it,  except  on  the  score  of  extreme 
intimacy. 

"  Come,  sit  by  me,  little  Mara,"  said  the  minister,  putting 
out  his  hand  ;  "  you  and  I  must  be  friends,  I  see." 


164  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Mr.  Sewell  had  a  certain  something  of  mesmeric  power 
in  his  eyes  which  children  seldom  resisted ;  and  with  a 
shrinking  movement,  as  if  both  attracted  and  repelled,  the 
little  girl  got  upon  his  knee. 

"  So  you  like  the  Bible  and  Roman  history  ?  "  he  said  to 
her,  making  a  little  aside  for  her,  while  a  brisk  conversation 
was  going  on  between  Captain  Kittridge  and  Captain  Fennel 
on  the  fishing  bounty  for  the  year. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Mara,  blushing  in  a  very  guilty  way. 

"  And  which  do  you  like  the  best  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  sir ;  I  sometimes  think  it  is  the  one,  and 
sometimes  the  other." 

"  Well,  what  pleases  you  in  the  Roman  history  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  like  that  about  Quintus  Curtius." 

"  Quintus  Curtius  ?  "  said  Mr.  Sewell,  pretending  not  to 
remember. 

"  Oh,  don't  you  remember  him  ?  why,  there  was  a  great 
gulf  opened  in  the  Forum,  and  the  Augurs  said  that  the 

• 

country  would  not  be  saved  unless  some  one  would  offer 
himself  up  for  it,  and  so  he  jumped  right  in,  all  on  horse 
back.  I  think  that  was  grand.  I  should  like  to  have  done 
that,"  said  little  Mara,  her  eyes  blazing  out  with  a  kind  of 
starry  light  which  they  had  when  she  was  excited. 

"  And  how  would  you  have  liked  it,  if  you  had  been  a 
Roman  girl,  and  Moses  were  Quintus  Curtius  ?  would  you 
like  to  have  him  give  himself  up  for  the  good  of  the 
country  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,  no  ! "  said  Mara,  instinctively  shuddering. 

"  Don't  you  think  it  would  be  very  grand  of  him  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir." 

"  And  should  n't  we  wish  our  friends  to  do  what  is  brave 
and  grand  ?  " 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  165 

"  Yes,  sir ;  but  then,"  she  added,  "  it  would  be  so  dread 
ful  never  to  see  him  any  more,"  and  a  large  tear  rolled  from 
the  great  soft  eyes  and  fell  on  the  minister's  hand. 

"  Come,  come,"  thought  Mr.  Sewell,  "  this  sort  of  experi 
menting  is  too  bad  —  too  much  nerve  here,  too  much  soli 
tude,  too  much  pine-whispering  and  sea-dashing  are  going  to 
the  making  up  of  this  little  piece  of  workmanship." 

"  Tell  me,"  he  said,  motioning  Moses  to  sit  by  him,  "  how 
you  like  the  Roman  history." 

"  I  like  it  first-rate,"  said  Moses.  "  The  Romans  were 
such  smashers,  and  beat  everybody  —  nobody  could  stand 
against  them  ;  and  I  like  Alexander,  too  —  I  think  he  was 
splendid." 

"  True  boy,"  said  Mr.  Sewell  to  himself,  "  unreflecting 
brother  of  the  wind  and  the  sea,  and  all  that  is  vigorous  and 
active  —  no  precocious  development  of  the  moral  here." 

"  Now  you  have  come,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  "  I  will  lend 
you  another  book." 

"  Thank  you,  sir ;  I  love  to  read  them  when  I  'm  at  home 
—  it 's  so  still  here.  I  should  be  dull  if  I  did  n't." 

Mara's  eyes  looked  eagerly  attentive.  Mr.  Sewell  noticed 
their  hungry  look  when  a  book  was  spoken  of. 

"  And  you  must  read  it,  too,  my  little  girl,"  he  said. 

"  Thank  you,  sir,"  said  Mara ;  "  I  always  want  to  read 
everything  Moses  does." 

"  What  book  is  it  ?  "  said  Moses. 

"  It  is  called  Plutarch's  '  Lives,' "  said  the  minister  ;  "  it 
has  more  particular  accounts  of  the  men  you  read  about  in 
history." 

"  Are  there  any  lives  of  women  ?  "  said  Mara. 

"  No,  my  dear,"  said  Mr.  Sewell ;  "  in  the  old  times, 
women  did  not  get  their  lives  written,  though  I  don't  doubt 


166  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND, 

many  of  them  were  much  better  worth  writing  than  the 
men's." 

"  I  should  like  to  be  a  great  general,"  said  Moses,  with  a 
toss  of  his  head. 

"  The  way  to  be  great  lies  through  books,  now,  and  not 
through  battles,"  said  the  minister ;  "  there  is  more  done 
with  pens  than  swords  ;  so,  if  you  want  to  do  anything,  you 
must  read  and  study." 

"  Do  you  think  of  giving  this  boy  a  liberal  education  ?  " 
said  Mr.  Sewell  some  time  later  in  the  evening,  after  Moses 
and  Mara  were  gone  to  bed. 

"  Depends  on  the  boy,"  said  Zephaniah.  "  I  've  been  up 
to  Brunswick,  and  seen  the  fellows  there  in  the  college. 
With  a  good  many  of  'em,  going  to  college  seems  to  be  just 
nothing  but  a  sort  of  ceremony ;  they  go  because  they  're 
sent,  and  don't  learn  anything  more  'n  they  can  help.  That 's 
what  I  call  waste  of  time  and  money." 

"  But  don't  you  think  Moses  shows  some  taste  for  reading 
and  study  ?  " 

"  Pretty  well,  pretty  well !  "  said  Zephaniah  ;  "  jist  keep 
him  a  little  hungry ;  not  let  him  get  all  he  wants,  you  see, 
and  he  '11  bite  the  sharper.  If  I  want  to  catch  cod  I  don't 
begin  with  flingin'  over  a  barrel  o'  bait.  So  with  the  boys, 
jist  bait  'em  with  a  book  here  and  a  book  there,  and  kind  o' 
let  'em  feel  their  own  way,  and  then,  if  nothin'  will  do  but 
a  fellow  must  go  to  college,  give  in  to  him  —  that  'd  be  my 
way." 

"  And  a  very  good  one,  too  !  "  said  Mr.  Sewell.  "  I  '11  see 
if  I  can't  bait  my  hook,  so  as  to  make  Moses  take  after  Latin 
this  winter.  I  shall  have  plenty  of  time  to  teach  him." 

"  Now,  there  's  Mara  !  "  said  the  Captain,  his  face  becom 
ing  phosphorescent  with  a  sort  of  mild  radiance  of  pleasure, 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  167 

as  it  usually  was  when  he  spoke  of  her  ;  "  she  's  real  sharp 
set  after  books ;  she  's  ready  to  fly  out  of  her  little  skin  at 
the  sight  of  one." 

"  That  child  thinks  too  much,  and  feels  too  much,  and 
knows  too  much  for  her  years  !  "  said  Mr.  Sewell.  "  If  she 
were  a  boy,  and  you  would  take  her  away  cod-fishing,  as 
you  have  Moses,  the  sea-winds  would  blow  away  some  of 
the  thinking,  and  her  little  body  would  grow  stout,  and  her 
mind  less  delicate  and  sensitive.  But  she's  a  woman,"  he 
said,  with  a  sigh,  "  and  they  are  all  alike.  We  can't  do 
much  for  thenybut  let  them  come  up  as  they  will  and  make 
the  best  of  it." 


168  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

"  "  EMILY,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  "  did  you  ever  take  much 
notice  of  that  little  Mara  Lincoln  ?  " 

"  No,  brother  ;  why  ?  " 

"  Because  I  think  her  a  very  uncommon  child." 

"  She  is  a  pretty  little  creature,"  said  Miss  Emily ;  "  but 
that  is  all  I  know;  modest  —  blushing  to  her  eyes  when  a 
stranger  speaks  to  her." 

"  She  has  wonderful  eyes,"  said  Mr.  Sewell ;  "  when  she 
gets  excited,  they  grow  so  large  and  so  bright,  it  seems  al 
most  unnatural." 

"  Dear  me  !  has  she  ?  "  said  Miss  Emily,  in  the  tone  of 
one  who  had  been  called  upon  to  do  something  about  it. 
"  Well  ?  "  she  added,  inquiringly. 

"  That  little  thing  is  only  seven  years  old,"  said  Mr.  Sew 
ell ;  "  and  she  is  thinking  and  feeling  herself  all  into  mere 
spirit  —  brain  and  nerves  all  active,  and  her  little  body  so 
frail.  She  reads  incessantly,  and  thinks  over  and  over  what 
she  reads." 

"  Well  ? "  said  Miss  Emily,  winding  very  swiftly  on  a 
skein  of  black  silk,  and  giving  a  little  twitch,  every  now  and 
then,  to  a  knot  to  make  it  subservient. 

It  was  commonly  the  way,  when  Mr.  Sewell  began  to  talk 
with  Miss  Emily,  that  she  constantly  answered  him  with  the 
manner  of  one  who  expects  some  immediate,  practical  prop 
osition  to  flow  from  every  train  of  thought.  Now  Mr. 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  169 

Sewell  was  one  of  the  reflecting  kind  of  men,  whose  thoughts 
have  a  thousand  meandering  paths,  that  lead  nowhere  in 
particular.  His  sister's  brisk  little  "  Well's  ?  "  and  "  Ah's  !  " 
and  "  Indeed's  !  "  were  sometimes  the  least  bit  in  the  world 
annoying. 

"  What  is  to  be  done  ?  "  said  Miss  Emily  ;  "  shall  we 
speak  to  Mrs.  Fennel?" 

"  Mrs.  Fennel  would  know  nothing  about  her." 

"  How  strangely  you  talk  !  —  who  should,  if  she  does  n't  ?  " 

"  I  mean,  she  would  n't  understand  the  dangers  of  her 
case." 

"  Dangers !  Do  you  think  she  has  any  disease  ?  She 
seems  to  be  a  healthy  child  enough,  I  'm  sure.  She  has  a 
lovely  color  in  her  cheeks." 

Mr.  Sewell  seemed  suddenly  to  become  immersed  in  a 
book  he  was  reading. 

"  There  now,"  said  Miss  Emily,  with  a  little  tone  of  pique, 
"  that 's  the  way  you  always  do.  You  begin  to  talk  with  me, 
and  just  as  I  get  interested  in  the  conversation,  you  take  up 
a  book.  It 's  too  bad." 

"  Emily,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  laying  down  his  book,  "  I 
think  I  shall  begin  to  give  Moses  Fennel  Latin  lessons  this 
winter." 

"  Why,  what  do  you  undertake  that  for  ? "  said  Miss 
Emily.  "  You  have  enough  to  do  without  that,  I  'm 
sure." 

"He  is  an  uncommonly  bright  boy,  and  he  interests 
me." 

"  Now,  brother,  you  need  n't  tell  me ;  there  is  some  mys 
tery  about  the  interest  you  take  in  that  child,  you  know  there 
is." 

"  I  am  fond  of  children,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  dryly. 


170  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Well,  but  you  don't  take  as  much  interest  in  other  boys. 
I  never  heard  of  your  teaching  any  of  them  Latin  before." 

"  Well,  Emily,  he  is  an  uncommonly  interesting  child,  and 
the  providential  circumstances  under  which  he  came  into 
our  neighborhood  " 

"  Providential  fiddlesticks  !  "  said  Miss  Emily,  with 
heightened  color.  "  /  believe  you  knew  that  boy's  mother." 

This  sudden  thrust  brought  a  vivid  color  into  Mr.  Sew- 
ell's  cheeks.  To  be  interrupted  so  unceremoniously,  in  the 
midst  of  so  very  proper  and  ministerial  a  remark,  was 
rather  provoking,  and  he  answered,  with  some  asperity,  — 

"  And  suppose  I  had,  Emily,  and  supposing  there  were 
any  painful  subject  connected  with  this  past  event,  you 
might  have  sufficient  forbearance  not  to  try  to  make  me 
speak  on  what  I  do  not  wish  to  talk  of." 

Mr.  Sewell  was  one  of  your  gentle,  dignified  men,  from 
whom  Heaven  deliver  an  inquisitive  female  ^friend !  If 
such  people  would  only  get  angry,  and  blow  some  unbecom 
ing  blast,  one  might  make  something  of  them  ;  but  speaking, 
as  they  always  do,  from  the  serene  heights  of  immaculate 
propriety,  one  gets  in  the  wrong  before  one  knows  it,  and 
has  nothing  for  it  but  to  beg  pardon. 

Miss  Emily  had,  however,  a  feminine  resource :  she  began 
to  cry  —  wisely  confining  herself  to  the  simple  eloquence  of 
tears  and  sobs.  Mr.  Sewell  sat  as  awkwardly  as  if  he  had 
trodden  on  a  kitten's  toe,  or  brushed  down  a  china  cup,  feel 
ing  as  if  he  were  a  great,  horrid,  clumsy  boor,  and  his  poor 
little  sister  a  martyr. 

"  Come,  Emily,"-  he  said,  in  a  softer  tone,  when  the  sobs 
subsided  a  little. 

But  Emily  did  n't  "  come,"  but  went  at  it  with  a  fresh 
burst. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  171 

Mr.  Sewell  had  a  vision  like  that  which  drowning  men 
are  said  to  have,  in  which  all  Miss  Emily's  sisterly  devo 
tions,  stocking-darnings,  account-keepings,  nursings  and  tend 
ings,  and  infinite  self-sacrifices,  rose  up  before  him :  and 
there  she  was  —  crying  ! 

"  I  'm  sorry  I  spoke  harshly,  Emily.  Come,  come  ;  that 's 
a  good  girl." 

"  I  'm  a  silly  fool,"  said  Miss  Emily,  lifting  her  head,  and 
wiping  the  tears  from  her  merry  little  eyes,  as  she  went  on 
winding  her  silk. 

"  Perhaps  he  will  tell  me  now,"  she  thought,  as  she 
wound. 

But  he  did  n't. 

"  What  I  was  going  to  say,  Emily,"  said  her  brother, 
"  was,  that  I  thought  it  would  be  a  good  plan  for  little 
Mara  to  come  sometimes  with  Moses;  and  then,  by  ob 
serving  her  more  particularly,  you  might  be  of  use  to 
her ;  her  little,  active  mind  needs  good  practical  guidance 
like  yours." 

Mr.  Sewell  spoke  in  a  gentle,  flattering  tone,  and  Miss 
Emily  was  flattered  ;  but  she  soon  saw  that  she  had  gained 
nothing  by  the  whole  breeze,  except  a  little  kind  of  dread, 
which  made  her  inwardly  resolve  never  to  touch  the  knocker 
of  his  fortress  again.  But  she  entered  into  her  brother's 
scheme  with  the  facile  alacrity  with  which  she  usually  sec-  / 
onded  any  schemes  of  his  proposing. 

"  I  might  teach  her  painting  and  embroidery,"  said  Miss 
Emily,  glancing,  with  a  satisfied  air,  at  a  framed  piece  of 
her  own  work  which  hung  over  the  mantel-piece,  revealing 
the  state  of  the  fine  arts  in  this  country,  as  exhibited  in  the 
performances  of  well-instructed  young  ladies  of  that  period. 
Miss  Emily  had  performed  it  under  the  tuition  of  a  cele- 


172  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

brated  teacher  of  female  accomplishments.  It  represented  a 
white  marble  obelisk,  which  an  inscription,  in  legible  India- 
ink  letters,  stated  to  be  "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Theophi- 
lus  Sewell,"  &c.  This  obelisk  stood  in  the  midst  of  a 
ground  made  very  green  by  an  embroidery  of  different 
shades  of  chenille  and  silk,  and  was  overshadowed  by  an 
embroidered  weeping- willow.  Leaning  on  it,  with  her  face 
concealed  in  a  plentiful  flow  of  white  handkerchief,  was  a 
female  figure  in  deep  mourning,  designed  to  represent  the 
desolate  widow.  A  young  girl,  in  a  very  black  dress,  knelt 
in  front  of  it,  and  a  very  lugubrious-looking  young  man, 
standing  bolt  upright  on  the  other  side,  seemed  to  hold  in 
his  hand  one  end  of  a  wreath  of  roses,  which  the  girl  was 
,  presenting,  as  an  appropriate  decoration  for  the  tomb.  The 
girl  and  gentleman  were,  of  course,  the  young  Theophilus 
and  Miss  Emily,  and  the  appalling  grief  conveyed  by  the 
expression  of  their  faces  was  a  triumph  of  the  pictorial 
art. 

Miss  Emily  had  in  her  bedroom  a  similar  funeral  trophy, 
sacred  to  the  memory  of  her  deceased  mother,  —  besides 
which  there  were,  framed  and  glazed,  in  the  little  sitting- 
room,  two  embroidered  shepherdesses  standing  with  rueful 
faces,  in  charge  of  certain  animals  of  an  uncertain  breed 
between  sheep  and  pigs.  The  poor  little  soul  had  mentally 
resolved  to  make  Mara  the  heiress  of  all  the  skill  and  knowl 
edge  of  the  arts  by  which  she  had  been  enabled  to  consum 
mate  these  marvels. 

"  She  is  naturally  a  lady-like  little  thing,"  she  said  to  her 
self,  "  and  if  I  know  anything  of  accomplishments,  she  shall 
have  them." 

Just  about  the  time  that  Miss  Emily  came  to  this  resolu 
tion,  had  she  been  clairvoyant,  she  might  have  seen  Mara 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  173 

sitting  very  quietly,  busy  in  the  solitude  of  her  own  room 
with  a  little  sprig  of  partridge-berry  before  her,  whose  round 
green  leaves  and  brilliant  scarlet  berries  she  had  been  for 
hours  trying  to  imitate,  as  appeared  from  the  scattered 
sketches  and  fragments  around  her.  In  fact,  before  Zeph- 
aniah  started  on  his  spring  fishing,  he  had  caught  her  one 
day  very  busy  at  work  of  the  same  kind,  with  bits  of  char 
coal,  and  some  colors  compounded  out  of  wild  berries ;  and 
so  out  of  his  capacious  pocket,  after  his  return,  he  drew  a 
little  box  of  water-colors  and  a  lead-pencil  and  square  of 
india-rubber,  which  he  had  bought  for  her  in  Portland  on 
his  way  home. 

Hour  after  hour  the  child  works,  so  still,  so  fervent, 
so  earnest,  —  going  over  and  over,  time  after  time,  her 
simple,  ignorant  methods  to  make  it  "  look  like,"  and  stop 
ping,  at  times,  to  give  the  true  artist's  sigh,  as  the  little 
green  and  scarlet  fragment  lies  there  hopelessly,  unapproach 
ably  perfect.  Ignorantly  to  herself,  the  hands  of  the  little 
pilgrim  are  knocking  at  the  very  door  where  Giotto  and 
Cimabue  knocked  in  the  innocent  child-life  of  Italian  art. 

"  Why  won't  it  look  round  ?  "  she  said  to  Moses,  who  had 
come  in  behind  her. 

"  Why,  Mara,  did  you  do  these  ?  "  said  Moses,  astonished ; 
"  why,  how  well  they  are  done  !  I  should  know  in  a  minute 
what  they  were  meant  for." 

Mara  flushed  up  at  being  praised  by  Moses,  but  heaved  a 
deep  sigh  as  she  looked  back. 

"  It 's  so  pretty,  that  sprig,"  she  said ;  "  if  I  only  could 
make  it  just  like  " 

"  Why,  nobody  expects  that?  said  Moses,  "  it 's  like 
enough,  if  people  only  know  what  you  mean  it  for.  But 
come,  now,  get  your  bonnet,  and  come  with  me  in  the  boat. 


174  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Captain  Kittridge  has  just  brought  down  our  new  one,  and 
I  'm  going  to  take  you  over  to  Eagle  Island,  and  we  '11  take 
our  dinner  and  stay  all  day  ;  mother  says  so." 

"Oh,  how  nice  ! "  said  the  little  girl,  running  cheerfully  for 
her  sun-bonnet. 

At  the  house-door  they  met  Mrs.  Fennel,  with  a  little 
closely-covered  tin  pail. 

"  Here  's  your  dinner,  children  ;  and,  Moses,  mind  and 
take  good  care  of  her." 

"  Never  fear  me,  mother,  I  Ve  been  to  the  Banks  ;  there 
was  n't  a  man  there  could  manage  a  boat  better  than  I 
could." 

"  Yes,  grandmother,"  said  Mara,  "  you  ought  to  see  how 
strong  his  arms  are ;  I  believe  he  will  be  like  Samson  one 
of  these  days  if  he  keeps  on." 

So  away  they  went.  It  was  a  glorious  August  forenoon, 
and  the  sombre  spruces  and  shaggy  hemlocks  that  dipped 
and  rippled  in  the  waters  were  penetrated  to  their  deepest 
recesses  with  the  clear  brilliancy  of  the  sky,  —  a  true  north 
ern  sky,  without  a  cloud,  without  even  a  softening  haze,  de 
fining  every  outline,  revealing  every  minute  point,  cutting 
with  sharp  decision  the  form  of  every  promontory  and  rock, 
and  distant  island. 

The  blue  of  the  sea  and  the  blue  of  the  sky  were  so  much 
the  same,  that  when  the  children  had  rowed  far  out,  the  lit 
tle  boat  seemed  to  float  midway,  poised  in  the  centre  of  an 
azure  sphere,  with  a  firmament  above  and  a  firmament  be 
low.  Mara  leaned  dreamily  over  the  side  of  the  boat,  and 
drew  her  little  hands  through  the  waters  as  they  rippled 
'along  to  the  swift  oars'  strokes,  and  she  saw  as  the  waves 
broke,  and  divided  and  shivered  around  the  boat,  a  hundred 
little  faces,  with  brown  eyes  and  golden  hair,  gleaming  up 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  175 

through  the  water,  and  dancing  away  over  rippling  waves, 
and  thought  that  so  the  sea-nymphs  might  look  who 
came  up  from  the  coral  caves  when  they  ring  the  knell 
of  drowned  people.  Moses  sat  opposite  to  her,  with  his 
coat  off,  and  his  heavy  black  curls  more  wavy  and  glossy 
than  ever;  as  the  exercise  made  them  damp  with  perspi 
ration. 

Eagle  Island  lay  on  the  blue  sea,  a  tangled  thicket  of  ever 
greens,  —  white  pine,  spruce,  arbor  vittz,  and  fragrant  silver 
firs.  A  little  strip  of  white  beach  bound  it,  like  a  silver  set 
ting  to  a  gem.  And  there -Moses  at  length  moored  his  boat, 
and  the  children  landed.  The  island  was  wholly  solitary,  and 
there  is  something  to  children  quite  delightful  in  feeling  that 
they  have  a  little  lonely  world  all  to  themselves.  Childhood 
is  itself  such  an  enchanted  island,  separated  by  mysterious 
depths  from  the  main-land  of  nature,  life,  and  reality. 

Moses  had  subsided  a  little  from  the  glorious  heights  on 
which  he  seemed  to  be  in  the  first  flush  of  his  return,  and 
he  and  Mara,  in  consequence,  were  the  friends  of  old  time. 
It  is  true  he  thought  himself  quite  a  man,  but  the  manhood 
of  a  boy  is  only  a  tiny  masquerade,  —  a  fantastic,  dreamy 
prevision  of  real  manhood.  It  was  curious  that  Mara,  who 
was  by  all  odds  the  most  precociously-developed  of  the  two, 
never  thought  of  asserting  herself  a  woman  ;  in  fact,  she 
seldom  thought  of  herself  at  all,  but  dreamed  and  pondered 
of  almost  everything  else. 

"  I  declare,"  said  Moses,  looking  up  into  a  thick-branched, 
rugged  old  hemlock,  which  stood  all  shaggy,  with  heavy 
beards  of  gray  moss  drooping  from  its  branches,  "  there  's 
an  eagle's  nest  up  there  ;  I  mean  to  go  and  see." 

And  up  he  went  into  the  gloomy  embrace  of  the  old  tree, 
crackling  the  dead  branches,  wrenching  off  handfuls  of  gray 


r 


176  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

moss,  rising  higher  and  higher,  every  once  in  a  while  turn 
ing  and  showing  to  Mara  his  glowing  face  and  curly  hair 
through  a  dusky  green  frame  of  boughs,  and  then  mounting 
again.  "  I  'm  coming  to  it,"  he  kept  exclaiming. 

Meanwhile  his  proceedings  seemed  to  create  a  sensation 
among  the  feathered  house-keepers,  one  of  whom  rose  and 
sailed  screaming  away  into  the  air.  In  a  moment  after 
there  was  a  swoop  of  wings,  and  two  eagles  returned  and 
began  flapping  and  screaming  about  the  head  of  the  boy. 

Mara,  who  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  could  not  see 
clearly  what  was  going  on,  for  the  thickness  of  the  boughs ; 
she  only  heard  a  great  commotion  and  rattling  of  the 
branches,  the  scream  of  the  birds,  and  the  swooping  of  their 
wings,  and  Moses'  valorous  exclamations,  as  he  seemed  to 
be  laying  about  him  with  a  branch  which  he  had  broken 
off. 

At  last  he  descended  victorious,  with  the  eggs  in  his 
pocket.  Mara  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  with  her  sun- 
bonnet  blown  back,  her  hair  streaming,  and  her  little  arms 
upstretched,  as  if  to  catch  him  if  he  fell. 

"  Oh,  I  was  so  afraid ! "  she  said,  as  he  set  foot  on  the 
ground. 

"Afraid?  Pooh!  Who's  afraid?  Why,  you  might 
know  the  old  eagles  could  n't  beat  me." 

"  Ah,  well,  I  know  how  strong  you  are ;  but,  you  know, 
I  could  n't  help  it.  But  the  poor  birds,  —  do  hear  'em 
scream.  Moses,  don't  you  suppose  they  feel  bad  ?  " 

"  No,  they  're  only  mad,  to  think  they  could  n't  beat  me. 
I  beat  them  just  as  the  Romans  used  to  beat  folks,  —  I 
played  their  nest  was  a  city,  and  I  spoiled  it." 

"  I  should  n't  want  to  spoil  cities !  "  said  Mara. 

"  That 's  'cause  you  are  a  girl,  —  I  'm  a  man,  —  and  men 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  177 

always  like  war ;  I  've  taken  one  city  this  afternoon,  and 
mean  to  take  a  great  many  more.'* 

"  But,  Moses,  do  you  think  war  is  right  ?  " 

"  Right  ?  why,  yes,  to  be  sure  ;  if  it  a'n't,  it 's  a  pity ;  for 
it 's  all  that  has  ever  been  done  in  this  world.  In  the  Bible, 
or  out,  certainly  it 's  right.  I  wish  I  had  a  gun  now,  I  'd 
stO£^  those  old  eagles'  screeching." 

Lt*  But,  Moses,  we  should  n't  want  any  one   to  come  and 
steal  all  our  things,  and  then  shoot  us." 

"  How  long  you  do  think  about  things  !  "  said  Moses,  im 
patient  at  her  pertinacity.  "  I  am  older  than  you,  and  when 
I  tell  you  a  thing  's  right,  you  ought  to  believe  it.  Besides, 
don't  you  take  hens'  eggs  every  day,  in  the  barn  ?  How  do 
you  suppose  the  hens  like  that?" 

This  was  a  home-thrust,  and  for  the  moment,  threw  the 
little  casuist  off  the  track.  She  carefully  folded  up  the  idea, 
and  laid  it  away  on  the  inner  shelves  of  her  mind,  till  she 
could  think  more  about  it. 

Pliable  as  she  was  to  all  outward  appearances,  the  child 
had  her  own  still,  interior  world,  where  all  her  little  notions 
and  opinions  stood  up  crisp  and  fresh,  like  flowers  that  grow 
in  cool,  shady  places.  If  anybody  too  rudely  assailed  a 
thought  or  suggestion  she  put  forth,  she  drew  it  back  again 
into  this  quiet  inner  chamber,  and  went  on.  Reader,  there 
are  some  women  of  this  habit ;  and  there  is  no  independence 
and  pertinacity  of  opinion  like  that  of  these  seemingly  soft, 
quiet  creatures,  whom  it  is  so  easy  to  silence,  and  so  difficult 
to  convince.  Mara,  little  and  unformed  as  she  yet  was,  be 
longed  to  the  race  of  those  spirits  to  whom  is  deputed  the 
office  of  the  angel  in  the  Apocalypse  to  whom  was  given 
the  golden  rod  which  measured  the  New  Jerusalem.  Infant 
:hough  she  was,  she  had  ever  in  her  hands  that  invisible 


178  THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

measuring  rod,  which  she  was  laying  to  the  foundations  of 
all  actions  and  thoughts.  There  may,  perhaps,  come  a  time 
when  the  saucy  boy,  who  now  steps  so  superbly,  and  pre 
dominates  so  proudly  in  virtue  of  his  physical  strength  and 
daring,  will  learn  to  tremble  at  the  golden  measuring-rod, 
held  in  the  hand  of  a  woman. 

"  Howbeit,  that  is  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but  that 
which  is  natural."  Moses  is  the  type  of  the  first  unreflect 
ing  stage  of  development,  in  which  are  only  the  out-reach- 
ings  of  active  faculties,  the  aspirations  that  tend  toward 
manly  accomplishments. 

Seldom  do  we  meet  sensitiveness  of  conscience  or  dis 
criminating  reflection  as  the  indigenous  growth  of  a  very 
vigorous  physical  development. 

Your  true  healthy  boy  has  the  breezy,  hearty  virtues  of 
a  Newfoundland  dog,  —  the  wild  fulness  of  life  of  the  young 
race-colt.  Sentiment,  sensibility,  delicate  perceptions,  spirit 
ual  aspirations,  are  plants  of  later  growth. 

But  there  are,  both  of  men  and  women,  beings  born  into 
this  world  in  whom  from  childhood  the  spiritual  and  the 
reflective  predominate  over  the  physical.  In  relation  to 
other  human  beings,  they-  seem  to  be  organized  much  as 
birds  are  in  relation  to  other  animals.  They  are  the  artists, 
"f  the  poets,  the  unconscious  seers,  to  whom  the  purer  truths 
of  spiritual  instruction  are  open.  Surveying  man  merely 
as  an  animal,  these  sensitively-organized  beings,  with  their 
feebler  physical  powers,  are  imperfect  specimens  of  life. 
Looking  from  the  spiritual  side,  they  seem  to  have  a  noble 
strength,  a  divine  force.  The  types  of  this  latter  class  are 
more  commonly  among  women  than  among  men.  Multi 
tudes  of  them  pass  away  in  earlier  years,  and  leave  behind 
in  many  hearts  the  anxious  wonder,  why  they  came  so  fair 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  179 

only  to  mock  the  love  they  kindled.  They  who  live  to 
maturity  are  the  priests  and  priestesses  of  the  spiritual  life, 
ordained  of  God  to  keep  the  balance  between  the  rude  but 
absolute  necessities  of  physical  life  and  the  higher  sphere  to 
which  that  must  at  length  give  place. 


180  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

MOSES  felt  elevated  some  inches  in  the  world  by  the  gift 
of  a  new  Latin  grammar,  which  had  been  bought  for  him 
in  Brunswick.  It  was  a  step  upward  in  life ;  no  graduate 
from  a  college  ever  felt  more  ennobled. 

"  Wai',  now,  I  tell  ye,  Moses  Fennel,"  said  Miss  Roxy, 
who,  with  her  press-board  and  big  flat-iron,  was  making  her 
autumn  sojourn  in  the  brown  house,  "  I  tell  ye  Latin  a'n't 
just  what  you  think  't  is,  steppin'  round  so  crank ;  you  must 
remember  what  the  king  of  Israel  said  to  Benhadad,  king 
of  Syria." 

"  I  don't  remember ;  what  did  he  say  ?  " 

"  I  remember,"  said  the  soft  voice  of  Mara ;  "  he  said, 
*  Let  not  him  that  putteth  on  the  harness  boast  as  him  that 
putteth  it  off.'" 

"  Good  for  you,  Mara,"  said  Miss  Roxy ;  "  if  some  other 
folks  read  their  Bibles  as  much  as  you  do,  they  'd  know 
more." 

Between  Moses  and  Miss  Roxy  there  had  always  been  a 
state  of  sub-acute  warfare  since  the  days  of  his  first  arri 
val,  she  regarding  him  as  an  unhopeful  interloper,  and  he 
regarding  her  as  a  grim-visaged,  interfering  gnome,  whom 
'he  disliked  with  all  the  intense,  unreasoning  antipathy  of 
childhood. 

"  I  hate  that  old  woman,"  he  said  to  Mara,  as  he  flung 
out  of  the  door. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  181 

"  Why,  Moses,  what  for  ?  "  said  Mara,  who  never  could 
comprehend  hating  anybody. 

"  I  do  hate  her,  and  Aunt  Ruey,  too.  They  are  two  old 
scratching  cats  ;  they  hate  me,  and  I  hate  them  ;  they  're 
always  trying  to  bring  me  down,  and  I  won't  be  brought 
down." 

Mara  had  sufficient  instinctive  insight  into  the  feminine 
role  in  the  domestic  concert  not  to  adventure  a  direct  argu 
ment  just  now  in  favor  of  her  friends,  and  therefore  she 
proposed  that  they  should  sit  down  together  under  a  cedar 
hard  by,  and  look  over  the  first  lesson. 

"  Miss  Emily  invited  me  to  go  over  with  you,"  she  said, 
"  and  I  should  like  so  much  to  hear  you  recite." 

Moses  thought  this  very  proper,  as  would  any  other  male 
person,  young  or  old,  who  has  been  habitually  admired  by 
any  other  female  one. 

He  did  not  doubt  that,  as  in  fishing  and  rowing,  and  all 
other  things  he  had  undertaken  as  yet,  he  should  win  him 
self  distinguished  honors. 

"  See  here,"  he  said ;  "  Mr.  Sewell  told  me  I  might  go 
as  far  as  I  liked,  and  I  mean  to  take  all  the  declensions  to 
begin  with,  —  there 's  five  of  'em,  and  I  shall  learn  them 
for  the  first  lesson,  and  then  I  shall  take  the  adjectives 
next,  and  next  the  verbs,  and  so  in  a  fortnight  get  into 
reading." 

Mara  heaved  a  sort  of  sigh.  She  wished  she  had  been 
invited  to  share  this  glorious  race ;  but  she  looked  on  ad 
miring  when  Moses  read,  in  a  loud  voice,  "  Penna,  penna?, 
pennae,  pennam,"  &c. 

"  There  now,  I  believe  I  've  got  it,"  he  said,  handing 
Mara  the  book;  and  he  was  perfectly  astonished  to  find 
that,  with  the  book  withdrawn,  he  boggled,  and  blundered, 


182  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

and  stumbled  ingloriously.  In  vain  Mara  softly  prompted, 
and  looked  at  him  with  pitiful  eyes  as  he  grew  red  in  the 
face  with  his  efforts  to  remember. 

"  Confound  it  all !  "  he  said,  with  an  angry  flush,  snatch 
ing  back  the  book ;  "  it 's  more  trouble  than  it 's  worth." 

Again  he  began  the  repetition,  saying  it  very  loud  and 
plain  ;  he  said  it  over  and  over  till  his  mind  wandered  far 
out  to  sea,  and  while  his  tongue  repeated  "  penna,  pennse," 
he  was  counting  the  white  sails  of  the  fishing-smacks,  and 
thinking  of  pulling  up  codfish  at  the  Banks. 

"  There  now,  Mara,  try  me,"  he  said,  and  handed  her  the 
book  again  ;  "  I  'm  sure  I  must  know  it  now." 

But,  alas !  with  the  book  the  sounds  glided  away ;  and 
"  penna  "  and  "  pennam  "  and  "  pennis  "  and  "  penna3  "  were 
confusedly  and  indiscriminately  mingled. 

He  thought  it  must  be  Mara's  fault ;  she  did  n't  read 
right,  or  she  told  him  just  as  he  was  going  to  say  it,  or  she 
did  n't  tell  him  right ;  or  was  he  a  fool  ?  or  had  he  lost  his 
senses  ? 

That  first  declension  has  been  a  valley  of  humiliation  to 
many  a  sturdy  boy  —  to  many  a  bright  one,  too  ;  arid  often 
it  is,  that  the  more  full  of  thought  and  vigor  the  mind  is,  the 
more  difficult  is  it  to  narrow  it  down  to  the  single  dry  issue 
of  learning  those  sounds. 

Heinrich  Heine  said  the  Romans  would  never  have  found 
time  to  conquer  the  world,  if  they  had  had  to  learn  their  own 
language ;  but  that,  luckily  for  them,  they  were  born  into 
the  knowledge  of  what  nouns  form  their  accusatives  in  "  um." 

Long  before  Moses  had  learned  the  first  declension,  Mara 
knew  it  by  heart ;  for  her  intense  anxiety  for  him,  and  the 
eagerness  and  zeal  with  which  she  listened  for  each  termi 
nation,  fixed  them  in  her  mind.  Besides,  she  was  naturally 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  183 

of  a  more  quiet  and  scholar-like  turn  than  he,  —  more  in 
tellectually  developed. 

Moses  began  to  think,  before  that  memorable  day  was 
through,  that  there  was  some  sense  in  Aunt  Roxy's  quota 
tion  of  the  saying  of  the  King  of  Israel,  and  materially  to 
retrench  his  expectations  as  to  the  time  it  might  take  to 
master  the  grammar ;  but  still,  his  pride  and  will  were  both 
committed,  and  he  worked  away  in  this  new  sort  of  labor 
with  energy. 

It  was  a  fine  frosty,  November  morning,  when  he  rowed 
Mara  across  the  bay  in  a  little  boat  to  recite  his  first  lesson 
to  Mr.  Sewell. 

Miss  Emily  had  provided  a  plate  of  seed-cake,  otherwise 
called  cookies,  for  the  children,  as  was  a  kindly  custom  of 
old  times,  when  the  little  people  were  expected. 

Miss  Emily  had  a  dim  idea  that  she  was  to  do  something 
for  Mara  in  her  own  department,  while  Moses  was  reciting 
his  lesson ;  and  therefore  producing  a  large  sampler,  dis 
playing  every  form  and  variety  of  marking-stitch,  she  began 
questioning  the  little  girl,  in  a  low  tone,  as  to  her  proficiency 
in  that  useful  accomplishment. 

Presently,  however,  she  discovered  that  the  child  was 
restless  and  uneasy,  and  that  she  answered  without  knowing 
what  she  was  saying.  The  fact  was  that  she  was  listening, 
with  her  whole  soul  in  her  eyes,  and  feeling  through  all  her 
nerves,  every  word  Moses  was  saying.  She  knew  all  the 
critical  places,  where  he  was  likely  to  go  wrong  ;  and  when 
at  last,  in  one  place,  he  gave  the  wrong  termination,  she  in 
voluntarily  called  out  the  right  one,  starting  up  and  turning 
towards  them.  In  a  moment  she  blushed  deeply,  seeing 
Mr.  Sewell  and  Miss  Emily  both  looking  at  her  with  sur 
prise. 


184  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Coine  here,  pussy,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  stretching  out  hig 
hand  to  her.  "  Can  you  say  this  ?  " 

"  I  believe  I  could,  sir." 

«  Well,  try  it." 

She  went  through  without  missing  a  word.  Mr.  Sewell 
then,  for  curiosity,  heard  her  repeat  all  the  other  forms  of 
the  lesson.  She  had  them  perfectly. 

"  Very  well,  my  little  girl,"  he  said,  "  have  you  been 
studying,  too  ?  " 

"I  heard  Moses  say  them  so  often,"  said  Mara,  in  an 
apologetic  manner,  "  I  could  n't  help  learning  them." 

"  Would  you  like  to  recite  with  Moses  every  day  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir,  so  much." 

"  Well,  you  shall.     It  is  better  for  him  to  have  company." 

Mara's  face  brightened,  and  Miss  Emily  looked  with  a 
puzzled  air  at  her  brother. 

"  So,"  she  said,  when  the  children  had  gone  home,  "  I 
thought  you  wanted  me  to  take  Mara  under  my  care.  I 
was  going  to  begin  and  teach  her  some  marking  stitches, 
and  you  put  her  up  to  studying  Latin.  I  don't  under 
stand  you." 

"  Well,  Emily,  the  fact  is,  the  child  has  a  natural  turn  for 
study,  that  no  child  of  her  age  ought  to  have ;  and  I  have 
done  just  as  people  always  will  with  such  children  ;  there  's 
no  sense  in  it,  but  I  wanted  to  do  it.  You  can  teach  her 
marking  and  embroidery  all  the  same ;  it  would  break  her 
little  heart,  now,  if  I  were  to  turn  her  back." 

"  I  do  not  see  of  what  use  Latin  can  be  to  a  woman." 

"  Of  what  use  is  embroidery  ?  " 

"  Why,  that  is  an  accomplishment." 

"  Ah,  indeed  !  "  said  Mr.  Sewell,  contemplating  the  weep 
ing  willow  and  tombstone  trophy  with  a  singular  expression, 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  185 

which  it  was  lucky  for  Miss  Emily's  peace  she  did  not 
understand.  The  fact  was,  that  Mr.  Sewell  had,  at  one 
period  of  his  life,  had  an  opportunity  of  studying  arid  ob 
serving  minutely  some  really  fine  works  of  art,  and  the 
remembrance  of  them  sometimes  rose  up  to  his  mind,  in  the 
presence  of  the  chefs-d'oeuvre  on  which  his  sister  rested  with 
so  much  complacency.  It  was  a  part  of  his  quiet  interior 
store  of  amusement  to  look  at  these  bits  of  Byzantine  em 
broidery  round  the  room,  which  affected  him  always  with  a 
subtle  sense  of  drollery. 

"  You  see,  brother,"   said  Miss  Emily,  "  it  is  far  better  I 
for  women  to  be  accomplished  than  learned." 

"  You  are  quite  right  in  the  main,"  said  Mr.  Sewell, 
"  only  you  must  let  me  have  my  own  way  just  for  once. 
One  can't  be  consistent  always." ' 

So  another  Latin  grammar  was  brought,  and  Moses  began 
to  feel  a  secret  respect  for  his  little  companion,  that  he  had 
never  done  before,  when  he  saw  how  easily  she  walked 
through  the  labyrinths  which  at  first  so  confused  him. 

Before  this,  the  comparison  had  been  wholly  in  points 
where  superiority  arose  from  physical  daring  and  vigor ; 
now  he  became  aware  of  the  existence  of  another  kind  of 
strength  with  which  he  had  not  measured  himself.  Mara's 
opinion  in  their  mutual  studies  began  to  assume  a  value  in 
his  eyes  that  her  opinions  on  other  subjects  had  never  done, 
and  she  saw  and  felt,  with  a  secret  gratification,  that  she  was 
becoming  more  to  him  through  their  mutual  pursuit.  To 
say  the  truth,  it  required  this  fellowship  to  inspire  Moses 
with  the  patience  and  perseverance  necessary  for  this  species 
of  acquisition.  His  active,  daring  temperament  little  inclined 
him  to  patient,  quiet  study.  For  anything  that  could  be 
done  by  two  hands,  he  was  always  ready  ;  but  to  hold  hands 


186  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

still  and  work  silently  in  the  inner  forces,  was  to  him  a 
species  of  undertaking  that  seemed  against  his  very  nature  ; 
but  then  he  would  do  it  —  he  would  not  disgrace  himself 
before  Mr.  Sewell,  and  let  a  girl  younger  than  himself 
outdo  him. 

But  the  thing,  after  all,  that  absorbed  more  of  Moses' 
thoughts  than  all  his  lessons  was  the  building  and  rigging  of 
a  small  schooner,  at  which  he  worked  assiduously  in  all  his 
leisure  moments.  He  had  dozens  of  blocks  of  wood,  into 
which  he  had  cut  anchor  moulds  ;  and  the  melting  of  lead, 
the  running  and  shaping  of  anchors,  the  whittling  of  masts 
and  spars  took  up  many  an  hour.  Mara  entered  into  all 
these  things  readily,  and  was  too  happy  to  make  herself 
useful  in  hemming  the  sails. 

When  the  schooner  was  finished,  they  built  some  ways 
down  by  the  sea,  and  invited  Sally  Kittridge  over  to  see 
it  launched. 

"  There  ! "  he  said,  when  the  little  thing  skimmed  down 
prosperously  into  the  sea  and  floated  gayly  on  the  waters  — 
"  when  I  'm  a  man,  I  '11  have  a  big  ship  ;  I  '11  build  her,  and 
launch  her,  and  command  her,  all  myself;  and  I  '11  give  you 
and  Sally  both  a  passage  in  it,  and  we  '11  go  off  to  the  East 
Indies  —  we  '11  sail  round  the  world  !  " 

None  of  the  three  doubted  the  feasibility  of  this  scheme  ; 
the  little  vessel  they  had  just  launched  seemed  the  visible 
prophecy  of  such  a  future  ;  and  how  pleasant  it  would  be  to 
sail  off,  with  the  world  all  before  them,  and  winds  ready  to 
blow  them  to  any  port  they  might  wish  ! 

The  three  children  arranged  some  bread  and  cheese  and 
doughnuts  on  a  rock  on  the  shore,  to  represent  the  collation 
that  was  usually  spread  in  those  parts  at  a  ship  launch, 
and  felt  quite  like  grown  people  — Tacting  life  beforehand 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  187 

in  that  sort  of  shadowy  pantomime  which  so  delights  little 
people.  ] 

Happy,  happy  days  —  when  ships  can  be  made  with  a 
jack-knife  and  anchors  run  in  pine  blocks,  and  three  chil 
dren  together  can  launch  a  schooner,  and  the  voyage  of  the 
world  can  all  be  made  in  one  sunny  Saturday  afternoon  ! 

"  Mother  says  you  are  going  to  college,"  said  Sally  to 
Moses. 

"  Not  I,  indeed,"  said  Moses ;  "  as  soon  as  I  get  old 
enough,  I  'm  going  up  to  Umbagog  among  the  lumberers, 
and  I  'm  going  to  cut  real,  splendid  timber  for  my  ship,  and 
I  'm  going  to  get  it  on  the  stocks,  and  have  it  built  to  suit 
myself." 

«  What  will  you  call  her  ?  "  said  Sally. 

"  I  have  n't  thought  of  that,"  said  Moses. 

"  Call  her  the  Ariel,"  said  Mara. 

"  What !  after  the  spirit  you  were  telling  us  about  ?  "  said 
Sally. 

"  Ariel  is  a  pretty  name;"  said  Moses.  "  But  what  is  that 
about  a  spirit  ?  " 

"  Why,"  said  Sally,  "  Mara  read  us  a  story  about  a  ship 
that  was  wrecked,  and  a  spirit  called  Ariel,  that  sang  a  song 
about  the  drowned  mariners." 

Mara  gave  a  shy,  apprehensive  glance  at  Moses,  to  see  if 
this  allusion  called  up  any  painful  recollections. 

No ;  instead  of  this,  he  was  following  the  motions  of  his 
little  schooner  on  the  waters  with  the  briskest  and  most  un 
concerned  air  in  the  world. 

"  Why  did  n't  you  ever  show  me  that  story,  Mara  ?  "  said 
Moses. 

Mara  colored  and  hesitated ;  the  real  reason  she  dared 
not  say. 


188  THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND. 

"  Why,  she  read  it  to  father  and  me  down  by  the  cove," 
said  Sally,  "  the  afternoon  that  you  came  home  from  the 
Banks  ;  I  remember  how  we  saw  you  coming  in  ;  don't  you, 
Mara?" 

"  What  have  you  done  with  it  ?  "  said  Moses. 

"  I  've  got  it  at  home,"  said  Mara,  in  a  faint  voice  ;  "  I  '11 
show  it  to  you,  if  you  want  to  see  it ;  there  are  such  beauti 
ful  things  in  it." 

That  evening,  as  Moses  sat  busy,  making  some  alterations 
in  his  darling  schooner,  Mara  produced  her  treasure,  and 
read  and  explained  to  him  the  story.  He  listened  with 
interest,  though  without  any  of  the  extreme  feeling  which 
Mara  had  thought  possible,  and  even  interrupted  her  once  in 
the  middle  of  the  celebrated  — 

"  Full  fathom  five  thy  father  lies," 

by  asking  her  to  hold  up  the  mast  a  minute,  while  he  drove 
in  a  peg  to  make  it  rake  a  little  more.  He  was,  evidently, 
thinking  of  no  drowned  father,  and  dreaming  of  no  possible 
sea-caves,  but  acutely  busy  in  fashioning  a  present  reality ; 
and  yet  he  liked  to  hear  Mara  read,  and,  when  she  had  done, 
told  her  that  he  thought  it  was  a  pretty,  —  quite  a  pretty 
story,  with  such  a  total  absence  of  recognition  that  the  story 
had  any  affinities  with  his  own  history,  that  Mara  was  quite 
astonished. 

She  lay  and  thought  about  him  hours,  that  night,  after  she 
had  gone  to  bed  ;  and  he  lay  and  thought  about  a  new  way 
of  disposing  a  pulley  for  raising  a  sail,  which  he  determined 
to  try  the  effect  of  early  in  the  morning. 

What  was  the  absolute  truth  in  regard  to  the  boy  ?  Had 
he  forgotten  the  scenes  of  his  early  life,  the  strange  catas 
trophe  that  cast  him  into  his  present  circumstances?  To 
this  we  answer  that  all  the  efforts  of  Nature,  during  the 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  189 

early  years  of  a  healthy  childhood,  are  bent  on  effacing  and 
obliterating  painful  impressions,  wiping  out  from  each  day 
the  sorrows  of  the  last,  as  the  daily  tide  effaces  the  furrows 
on  the  sea-shore. 

The  child  that  broods,  day  after  day,  over  some  fixed  idea, 
is  so  far  forth  not  a  healthy  one.  It  is  Nature's  way  to 
make  first  a  healthy  animal,  and  then  develop  in  it  gradually 
higher  faculties.  We  have  seen  our  two  children  unequally 
matched  hitherto,  because  unequally  developed. 

There  will  come  a  time,  by  and  by  in  the  history  of  the 
boy,  when  the  haze  of  dreamy  curiosity  will  steam  up  like 
wise  from  his  mind,  and  vague  yearnings,  and  questionings, 
and  longings  possess  and  trouble  him,  but  it  must  be  some 
years  hence. 

Here  for  a  season  we  leave  both  our  child  friends,  and 
when  ten  years  have  passed  over  their  heads,  —  when  Moses 
shall  be  twenty,  and  Mara  seventeen,  —  we  will  return  again 
to  tell  their  story,  for  then  there  will  be  one  to  tell.  Let  us 
suppose  in  the  interval,  how  Moses  and  Mara  read  Virgil 
with  the  minister,  and  how  Mara  works  a  shepherdess  with 
Miss  Emily,  which  astonishes  the  neighborhood,  —  but  how 
by  herself  she  learns,  after  divers  trials,  to  paint  partridge, 
and  checkerberry,  and  trailing  arbutus,  —  how  Moses  makes 
better  and  better  ships,  and  Sally  grows  up  a  handsome  girl, 
and  goes  up  to  Brunswick  to  the  high  school,  —  how  Cap 
tain  Kittridge  tells  stones,  and  Miss  Roxy  and  Miss  Ruey 
nurse  and  cut  and  make  and  mend,  for  the  still  rising  gen 
eration,  —  how  there  are  quiltings  and  tea-drinkings  and 
prayer-meetings  and  Sunday  sermons,  —  how  Zephaniah 
and  Mary  Fennel  grow  old  gradually  and  graciously,  as  the 
sun  rises  and  sets,  and  the  eternal  silver  tide  rises  and  falls 
around  our  little  gem,  Orr's  Island. 


190  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

"  Now,  where 's  Sally  Kittridge  ?  There 's  the  clock 
striking  five,  and  nobody  to  set  the  table.  Sally,  I  say  ! 
Sally ! " 

"  Why,  Mis'  Kittridge,"  said  the  Captain,  "  Sally  's  gone 
out  more  'n  an  hour  ago,  and  I  expect  she 's  gone  down  to 
Pennel's  to  see  Mara ;  'cause,  you  know,  she  come  home 
from  Portland  to-day." 

"  Well,  if  she  's  come  home,  I  s'pose  I  may  as  well  give 
up  havin'  any  good  of  Sally,  for  that  girl  fairly  bows  down 
to  Mara  Lincoln  and  worships  her." 

"  Well,  good  reason,"  said  the  Captain.  "  There  a'n't  a 
puttier  creature  breathin'.  I  'm  a'most  a  mind  to  worship 
her  myself." 

"  Captain  Kittridge,  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself, 
at  your  age,  talking  as  you  do." 

"  Why,  laws,  mother,  I  don't  feel  my  age,"  said  the  frisky 
Captain,  giving  a  sort  of  skip.  "  It  don't  seem  more  'n  yes 
terday  since  you  and  I  was  a-courtin',  Polly.  What  a  life 
you  did  lead  me  in  them  days  !  I  think  you  kep'  me  on  the 
anxious  seat  a  pretty  middlin'  spell." 

"  I  do  wish  you  would  n't  talk  so.  You  ought  to  be 
ashamed  to  be  triflin'  round  as  you  do..  Come,  now,  can't 
you  jest  tramp  over  to  Pennel's  and  tell  Sally  I  want 
her  ?  " 

"  Not  I,  mother.     There  a'n't  but  two  gals  in  two  miles 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  191 

square  here,  and  I  a'n't  a-goin'  to  be  the  feller  to  shoo  'em 
apart.  What 's  the  use  of  bein'  gals,  and  young,  and  putty, 
if  they  can't  get  together  and  talk  about  their  new  gownds 
and  the  fellers  ?  That  ar  's  what  gals  is  for." 

"  I  do  wish  you  would  n't  talk  in  that  way  before  Sally, 
father,  for  her  head  is  full  of  all  sorts  of  vanity  now  ;  and  as 
to  Mara,  I  never  did  see  a  more  slack-twisted,  flimsy  thing 
than  she 's  grown  up  to  be.  Now  Sally 's  learnt  to  do 
something,  thanks  to  me.  She  can  brew,  and  she  can  make 
bread  and  cake  and  pickles,  and  spin,  and  cut,  and  make. 
But  as  to  Mara,  what  does  she  do  ?  Why,  she  paints  pic- 
tur's.  Mis'  Fennel  was  a-showin'  on  me  a  blue-jay  she 
painted,  and  I  was  a-thinkin'  whether  she  could  brile  a  bird 
fit  to  be  eat  if  she  tried ;  and  she  don't  know  the  price  of 
nothin',"  continued  Mrs.  Kittridge,  with  wasteful  profusion 
of  negatives. 

"  Well,"  said  the  Captain,  "  the  Lord  makes  some  things 
jist  to  be  looked  at.  Their  work  is  to  be  putty,  and  that 
ar  's  Mara's  sphere.  It  never  seemed  to  me  she  was  cut  out 
for  hard  work  ;  but  she  's  got  sweet  ways  and  kind  words 
for  everybody,  and  it 's  as  good  as  a  psalrn  to  look  at  her." 

"  And  what  sort  of  a  wife  '11  she  make,  Captain  Kit 
tridge  ?  " 

"  A  real  sweet,  putty  one,"  said  the  Captain,  persistently. 

"  Well,  as  to  beauty,  I  'd  rather  have  our  Sally  any  day," 
said  Mrs.  Kittridge ;  "  and  she  looks  strong  and  hearty,  and 
seems  to  be  good  for  use." 

"  So  she  is,  so  she  is,"  said  the  Captain,  with  fatherly 
pride.  "  Sally  's  the  very  image  of  her  ma  at  her  age  — 
black  eyes,  black  hair,  tali  and  trim  as  a  spruce-tree,  and 
steps  off  as  if  she  had  springs  in  her  heels.  I  tell  you,  the 
feller  '11  have  to  be  spry  that  catches  her.  There  's  two  or 


192  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

three  of  'em  at  it,  I  see  ;  but  Sally  won't  have  nothin'  to  say 
to  'em.  I  hope  she  won't,  yet  awhile." 

"  Sally  is  a  girl  that  has  as  good  an  eddication  as  money 
can  give,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge.  "  If  I  'd  a-had  her  advan 
tages  at  her  age,  I  should  a-been  a  great  deal  more  'n  I  arn. 
But  we  ha'n't  spared  nothin'  for  Sally  ;  and  when  nothin' 
would  do  but  Mara  must  be  sent  to  Miss  Plucher's  school 
over  in  Portland,  why,  I  sent  Sally  too  —  for  all  she  's  our 
seventh  child,  and  Fennel  has  n't  but  the  one." 

"  You  forget  Moses,"  said  the  Captain. 

"  Well,  he  's  settin'  up  on  his  own  account^  I  guess.  They 
did  talk  o'  giving  him  college  eddication  ;  but  he  was  so  un- 
stiddy,  there  were  n't  no  use  in  trying.  A  real  wild  ass's 
colt  he  was." 

"  Wai',  waF,  Moses  was  in  the  right  on  't.  He  took  the 
cross-lot  track  into  life,"  said  the  Captain.  "  Colleges  is 
well  enough  for  your  smooth,  straight-grained  lumber,  for 
gen'ral  buildin' ;  but  come  to  fellers  that 's  got  knots,  and 
streaks,  and  cross-grains,  like  Moses  Fennel,  and  the  best 
way  is  to  let  'em  eddicate  'emselves,  as  he  's  a-doin'.  He  's 
cut  out  for  the  sea,  plain  enough,  and  he  'd  better  be  up  to 
Umbagog,  cuttin'  timber  for  his  ship,  than  havin'  rows  with 
tutors,  and  blowin'  the  roof  off  the  colleges,  as  one  o'  them 
'ere  kind  o'  fellers  is  apt  to  when  he  don't  have  work  to  use 
up  his  steam.  Why,  mother,  there  's  more  gas  got  up  in  them 
Brunswick  buildin's,  from  young  men  that  are  spilin'  for 
hard  work,  than  you  could  shake  a  stick  at !  But  Mis'  Fen 
nel  told  me  yesterday  she  was  'spectin'  Moses  home  to 
day." 

"  Oho !  that 's  at  the  bottom  of  Sally's  bein'  up  there,"  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge. 

"  Mis'  Kittridge,"  said  the  Captain,  "  I  take  it  you  a'n't 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  193 

the  woman  as  would  expect  a  daughter  of  your  bringin*  up 
to  be  a-runnin'  after  any  young  chap,  be  he  who  he  may," 
said  the  Captain. 

Mrs.  Kittridge  for  once  was  fairly  silenced  by  this  home- 
thrust  ;  nevertheless,  she  did  not  the  less  think  it  quite  pos 
sible,  from  all  that  she  knew  of  Sally ;  for  although  that 
young  lady  professed  great  hardness  of  heart  and  contempt 
for  all  the  young  male  generation  of  her  acquaintance,  yet 
she  had  evidently  a  turn  for  observing  their  ways  —  prob 
ably  purely  in  the  way  of  philosophical  inquiry. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

fact,  at  this  very  moment  our  scene-shifter  changes  the 
picture.  Away  rolls  the  image  of  Mrs.  Kittridge's  kitchen, 
with  its  sanded  floor,  its  scoured  rows  of  bright  pewter  plat 
ters,  its  great,  deep  fireplace,  with  wide  stone  hearth,  its  little 
looking-glass  with  a  bit  of  asparagus  bush,  like  a  green  mist, 
over  it.  Exeunt  the  image  of  Mrs.  Kittridge,  with  her 
hands  floury  from  the  bread  she  has  been  moulding,  and 
the  dry,  ropy,  lean  Captain,  who  has  been  sitting  tilting  back 
in  a  splint-bottomed  chair,  —  and  the  next  scene  comes  roll 
ing  in.  It  is  a  chamber  in  the  house  of  Zephaniah  Pennel, 
whose  windows  present  a  blue  panorama  of  sea  and  sky. 
Through  two  windows  you  look  forth  into  the  blue  belt  of 
Harpswell  Bay,  bordered  on  the  farther  edge  by  Harpswell 
Neck,  dotted  here  and  there  with  houses,  among  which  rises 
the  little  white  meeting-house,  like  a  mother-bird  among  a 
flock  of  chickens.  The  third  window,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  room,  looks  far  out  to  sea,  where  only  a  group  of  low, 
rocky  islands  interrupts  the  clear  sweep  of  the  horizon  line, 
with  its  blue  infinitude  of  distance. 

The  furniture  of  this  room,  though  of  the  barest  and  most 
frigid  simplicity,  is  yet  relieved  by  many  of  those  touches  of 
taste  and  fancy  which  the  indwelling  of  a  person  of  sensi 
bility  and  imagination  will  shed  off  upon  the  physical  sur 
roundings.  The  bed  was  draped  with  a  white  spread,  em 
broidered  with  a  kind  of  knotted  tracery,  the  working  of 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  195 

which  was  considered  among  the  female  accomplishments  of 
those  days,  and  over  the  head  of  it  was  a  painting  of  a 
bunch  of  crimson  and  white  trillium,  executed  with  a  fidelity 
to  Nature  that  showed  the  most  delicate  gifts  of  observation. 
Over  the  mantel-piece  hung  a  painting  of  the  Bay  of  Genoa, 
which  had  accidentally  found  a  voyage  home  in  Zephaniah 
Fennel's  sea-chest,  and  which  skilful  fingers  had  surrounded 
with  a  frame  curiously  wrought  of  moss  and  sea-shells.  Two 
vases  of  India  china  stood  on  the  mantel,  filled  with  spring 
flowers,  crowfoot,  anemones,  and  liverwort,  with  drooping 
bells  of  the  twin-flower.  The  looking-glass  that  hung  over 
the  table  in  one  corner  of  the  room  was  fancifully  webbed 
with  long,  drooping  festoons  of  that  gray  moss  which  hangs 
in  such  graceful  wreaths  from  the  boughs  of  the  pines  in  the 
deep  forest'  shadows  of  Orr's  Island.  On  the  table  below 
was  a  collection  of  books  :  a  whole  set  of  Shakspeare  which 
Zephaniah  Fennel  had  bought  of  a  Portland  bookseller ;  a 
selection,  in  prose  and  verse,  from  the  best  classic  writers, 
presented  to  Mara  Lincoln,  the  fly-leaf  said,  by  her  sincere 
friend,  Theophilus  Sewell ;  a  Virgil,  much  thumbed,  with  an 
old,  worn  cover,  which,  however,  some  adroit  fingers  had 
concealed  under,  a  coating  of  delicately  marbled  paper;—- 
there  was  a  Latin  dictionary,  a  set  of  Plutarch's  Lives,  the 
Mysteries  of  Udolpho,  and  Sir  Charles  Grandison,  together 
with  Edwards  on  the  Affections,  and  Boston's  Fourfold  State  ; 
—  there  was  an  inkstand,  curiously  contrived  from  a  sea- 
shell,  with  pens  and  paper  in  that  phase  of  arrangement 
which  betokened  frequency  of  use ;  and,  lastly,  a  little 
work-basket,  containing  a  long  strip  of  curious  and  deli 
cate  embroidery,  in  which  the  needle  yet  hanging  showed 
that  the  work  was  in  progress. 

By  a  table  at  the  sea-looking  window  sits  our  little  Mara, 


196  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

now  grown  to  the  maturity  of  eighteen  summers,  but  retain 
ing  still  unmistakable  signs  of  identity  with  the  little  golden- 
haired,  dreamy,  excitable,  fanciful  "  Pearl  "  of  Orr's  Island. 
She  is  not  quite  of  a  middle  height,  with  something  beau 
tiful  and  childlike  about  the  moulding  of  her  delicate  form. 
We  still  see  those  sad,  wistful,  hazel  eyes,  over  which  the 
lids  droop  with  a  dreamy  languor,  and  whose  dark  lustre 
contrasts  singularly  with  the  golden  hue  of  the  abundant 
hair  which  waves  in  a  thousand  rippling  undulations  around 
her  face.  The  impression  she  produces  is  not  that  of  pale 
ness,  though  there  is  no  color  in  her  cheek ;  but  her  com 
plexion  has  everywhere  that  delicate  pink  tinting  which 
one  sees  in  healthy  infants,  and  with  the  least  emotion 
brightens  into  a  fluttering  bloom.  Such  a  bloom  is  on  her 
cheek  at  this  moment,  as  /she  is  working  away,  copying  a 
bunch  of  scarlet  rock-columbine  which  is  in  a  wine-glass  of 
water  before  her ;  every  few  moments  stopping  and  holding 
her  work  at  a  distance,  to  contemplate  its  effect.  At  this 
moment  there  steps  behind  her  chair  a  tall,  lithe  figure,  a 
face  with  a  rich  Spanish  complexion,  large  black  eyes,  glow 
ing  cheeks,  marked  eyebrows,  and  lustrous  black  hair,  ar 
ranged  in  shining  braids  around  her  head.  It  is  our  old 
friend,  Sally  Kittridge,  whom  common  fame  calls  the  hand 
somest  girl  of  all  the  region  round  Harpswell,  Macquoit,  and 
Orr's  Island.  In  truth,  a  wholesome,  ruddy,  blooming  creature 
.she  was,  the  sight  of  whom  cheered  and  warmed  one  like  a 
good  fire  in  December ;  and  she  seemed  to  have  enough  and 
to  spare  of  the  warmest  gifts  of  vitality  and  joyous  animal 
life.  She  had  a  well-formed  mouth,  but  rather  large,  and  a 
frank  laugh  which  showed  all  her  teeth  sound  —  and  a  for 
tunate  sight  it  was,  considering  that  they  were  white  and 
even  as  pearls ;  and  the  hand  that  she  laid  upon  Mara's  at 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  197 

this  moment,  though  twice  as  large  as  that  of  the  little 
artist,  was  yet  in  harmony  with  her  vigorous,  finely  de 
veloped  figure. 

"  Mara  Lincoln,"  she  said,  "  you  are  a  witch,  a  perfect 
little  witch,  at  painting.  How  you  can  make  things  look  so 
like  I  don't  see.  Now,  I  could  paint  the  things  we  painted 
at  Miss  Plucher's ;  but  then,  dear  me !  they  didn't  look  at  all 
like  flowers.  One  needed  to  write  under  them  what  they 
were  made  for." 

"  Does  this  look  like  to  you,  Sally  ?  "  said  Mara.  "  I  wish 
it  would  to  me.  Just  see  what  a  beautiful  clear  color  that 
flower  is.  All  I  can  do,  I  can't  make  one  like  it.  My 
scarlet  and  yellows  sink  dead  into  the  paper." 

"  Why,  I  think  your  flowers  are  wonderful !  You  are  a 
real  genius,  that's  what  you  are  !  I  am  only  a  common  girl ; 
I  can't  do  things  as  you  can." 

"  You  can  do  things  a  thousand  times  more  useful,  Sally. 
I  don't  pretend  to  compare  with  you  in  the  useful  arts,  and 
I  am  only  a  bungler  in  ornamental  ones.  Sally,  I  feel  like 
a  useless  little  creature.  If  I  could  go  round  as  you  can, 
and  do  business,  and  make  bargains,  and  push  ahead  in  the 
world,  I  should  feel  that  I  was  good  for  something  ;  but 
somehow  I  can't." 

"  To  be  sure  you  can't,"  said  Sally,  laughing.  "  I  should 
like  to  see  you  try  it." 

"  Now,"  pursued  Mara,  in  a  tone  of  lamentation,  "  I  could 
no  more  get  into  a  carriage  and  drive  to  Brunswick  as  you 
can,  than  I  could  fly.  I  cant  drive,  Sally  —  something  is 
the  matter  with  me ;  and  the  horses  always  know  it  the  min 
ute  I  take  the  reins  ;  they  always  twitch  their  ears  and  stare 
round  into  the  chaise  at  me,  as  much  as  to  say,  '  What !  you  \ 
there  ? '  and  I  feel  sure  they  never  will  mind  me.  And  then 


198  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

how  you  can  make  those  wonderful  bargains  you  do,  I  can't 
see  !  —  you  talk  up  to  the  clerks  and  the  men,  and  somehow 
you  talk  everybody  round  ;  but  as  for  me,  if  I  only  open  my 
mouth  in  the  humblest  way  to  dispute  the  price,  everybody 
puts  me  down.  I  always  tremble  when  I  go  into  a  store, 
and  people  talk  to  me  just  as  if  I  was  a  little  girl,  and  once 
or  twice  they  have  made  me  buy  things  that  I  knew  I  did  n't 
want,  just  because  they  will  talk  me  down." 

"  Oh,  Mara,  Mara,"  said  Sally,  laughing  till  the  tears 
rolled  down  her  cheeks,  "  what  do  you  ever  go  a-shopping 
for?  —  of  course  you  ought  always  to  send  me.  Why,  look 
at  this  dress  —  real  India  chintz  ;  do  you  know  I  made  old 
Penny  whistle's  clerk  up  in  Brunswick  give  it  to  me  just  for 
the  price  of  common  cotton  ?  You  see  there  was  a  yard  of 
it  had  got  faded  by  lying  in  the  shop-window,  and  there 
were  one  or  two  holes  and  imperfections  in  it,  and  you  ought 
to  have  heard  the  talk  I  made  !  I  abused  it  to  right  and 
left,  and  actually  at  last  I  brought  the  poor  wretch  to  believe 
that  he  ought  to  be  grateful  to  me  for  taking  it  off  his  hands. 
Well,  you  see  the  dress  I  've  made  of  it.  The  imperfections 
didn't  hurt  it  the  least  in  the  world  as  I  managed  it, —  and 
the  faded  breadth  makes  a  good  apron,  so  you  see.  And 
just  so  I  got  that  red  spotted  flannel  dress  I  wore  last  win 
ter.  It  was  moth-eaten  in  one  or  two  places,  and  I  made 
them  let  me  have  it  at  half-price  ;  —  made  exactly  as  good  a 
dress.  But  after  all,  Mara,  I  can't  trim  a  bonnet  as  you  can, 
and  I  can't  come  up  to  your  embroidery,  nor  your  lace-work, 
nor  I  can't  draw  and  paint  as  you  can,  and  I  can't  sing  like 
you  ;  and  then  as  to  all  those  things  you  talk  with  Mr. 
Sewell  about,  why  they  're  beyond  my  depth,  —  that 's  all 
I  've  got  to  say.  Now,  you  are  made  to  have  poetry  written 
to  you,  and  all  that  kind  of  thing  one  reads  of  in  novels. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  199 

Nobody  would  ever  think  of  writing  poetry  to  me,  now,  or 
sending  me  flowers  and  rings,  and  such  things.  If  a  fellow 
likes  me,  he  gives  me  a  quince,  or  a  big  apple ;  but,  then, 
Mara,  there  a'n't  any  fellows  round  here  that  are  fit  to  speak 
to." 

"I'm  sure,  Sally,  there  always  is  a  train  following  you 
everywhere,  at  singing-school  and  Thursday  lecture." 

"  Yes  —  but  what  do  I  care  for*  'em  ?  "  said  Sally,  with  a 
toss  of  her  head.  "  Why  they  follow  me,  I  don't  see.  I 
don't  do  anything  to  make  'em,  and  I  tell  'em  all  that  they 
tire  me  to  death ;  and  still  they  will  hang  round.  What  is 
the  reason,  do  you  suppose  ?  " 

"  What  can  it  be  ?  "  said  Mara,  with  a  quiet  kind  of  arch 
drollery  which  suffused  her  face,  as  she  bent  over  her  paint 
ing. 

"  Well,  you  know  I  can't  bear  fellows  —  I  think  they  are 
hateful." 

"  What !  even  Tom  Hiers  ?  "  said  Mara,  continuing  her 
painting. 

"  Tom  Hiers  !  Do  you  suppose  I  care  for  him  ?  He 
would  insist  on  waiting  on  me  round  all  last  winter,  taking 
me  over  in  his  boat  to  Portland,  and  up  in  his  sleigh  to 
Brunswick ;  but  I  did  n't  care  for  him." 

"  Well,  there  's  Jimmy  Wilson,  up  at  Brunswick." 

"  What !  that  little  snip  of  a  clerk  !  You  don't  suppose 
I  care  for  him,  do  you  ?  —  only  he  almost  runs  his  head  off 
following  me  round  when  I  go  up  there  shopping ;  he 's 
nothing  but  a  little  dressed-up  yard-stick  !  I  never  saw  a 
fellow  yet  that  I  'd  cross  the  street  to  have  another  look  at. 
By  the  by,  Mara,  Miss  Roxy  told  me  Sunday  that  Moses 
was  coming  down  from  Umbagog  this  week." 

"  Yes,  he  is,"  said  Mara ;  "  we  are  looking  for  him  every 
day." 


200  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.       , 

"  You  must  want  to  see  him.  How  long  is  it  since  yoi 
saw  him  ?  " 

"  It  is  three  years,"  said  Mara.  "  I  scarcely  know  what 
he  is  like  now.  I  was  visiting  in  Boston  when  he  came 
home  from  his  three-years'  voyage,  and  he  was  gone  into  the 
lumbering  country  when  I  came  back.  He  seems  almost  a 
stranger  to  me." 

"  He  's  pretty  good-looking,"  said  Sally.  "  I  saw  him  on 
Sunday  when  he  was  here,  but  he  was  off  on  Monday,  and 
never  called  on  old  friends.  Does  he  write  to  you  often  ?  " 

"  Not  very,"  said  Mara  ;  "  in  fact,  almost  never ;  and 
when  he  does  there  is  so  little  in  his  letters." 

"  Well,  I  tell  you,  Mara,  you  must  not  expect  fellows  to 
write  as  girls  can.  They  don't  do  it.  Now,  our  boys, 
when  they  write  home,  they  tell  the  latitude  and  longitude, 
and  soil  and  productions,  and  such  things.  But  if  you  or  I 
were  only  there,  don't  you  think  we  should  find  something 
more  to  say  ?  Of  course  we  should,  —  fifty  thousand  little 
things  that  they  never  think  of." 

Mara  made  no  reply  to  this,  but  went  on  very  intently 
with  her  painting.  A  close  observer  might  have  noticed  a 
suppressed  sigh  that  seemed  to  retreat  far  down  into  her 
heart.  Sally  did  not  notice  it. 

What  was  in  that  sigh  ?  It  was  the  sigh  of  a  long,  deep 
inner  history,  unwritten  and  untold  —  such  as  are  transpir 
ing  daily  by  thousands,  and  of  which  we  take  no  heecLj 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  201 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WE  have  introduced  Mara  to  our  readers  as  she  appears 
in  her  seventeenth  year,  at  the  time  when  she  is  expecting 
the  return  of  Moses  as  a  young  man  of  twenty  ;  but  we  can 
not  do  justice  to  the  feelings  which  are  roused  in  her  heart 
by  this  expectation,  without  giving  a  chapter  or  two  to  tra 
cing  the  history  of  Moses  since  we  left  him  as  a  boy  com 
mencing  the  study  of  the  Latin  grammar  with  Mr.  Sewell. 
The  reader  must  see  the  forces  that  acted  upon  his  early 
development,  and  what  they  have  made  of  him. 

It  is  common  for  people  who  write  treatises  on  education 
to  give  forth  their  rules  and  theories  with  a  self-satisfied  air, 
as  if  a  human  being  were  a  thing  to  be  made  up,  like  a 
batch  of  bread,  out  of  a  given  number  of  materials  combined 
by  an  infallible  recipe. 

Take  your  child,  and  do  thus  and  so  for  a  given  number 
of  years,  and  he  comes  out  a  thoroughly  educated  individual. 

But  in  fact,  education  is  in  many  cases  nothing  more  than 
a  blind  struggle  of  parents  and  guardians  with  the  evolutions 
of  some  strong,  predetermined  character,  individual,  ob 
stinate,  unreceptive,  and  seeking  by  an  inevitable  law  of  its 
being  to  develop  itself  and  gain  free  expression  in  its  own 
way.  Captain  Kittridge's  confidence  that  he  would  as  soon 
undertake  a  boy  as  a  Newfoundland  pup,  is  good  for  those 
whose  idea  of  what  is  to  be  done  for  a  human  being  are 
only  what  would  be  done  for  a  dog,  namely,  give  food, 
9* 


202  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

shelter,  and  world-room,  and  leave  each  to  act  out  his  own 
nature  without  let  or  hindrance. 

But  everybody  takes  an  embryo  human  being  with  some 
plan  of  one's  own  what  it  shall  do  or  be.  The  child's  future 
shall  shape  out  some  darling  purpose  or  plan,  and  fulfil  some 
long  unfulfilled  expectation  of  the  parent.  And  thus,  though 
the  wind  of  every  generation  sweeps  its  hopes  and  plans  like 
forest-leaves,  none  are  whirled  and  tossed  with  more  piteous 
moans  than  those  which  come  out  green  and  fresh  to  shade 
the  happy  spring-time  of  the  cradle. 

For  the  temperaments  of  children  are  often  as  oddly  un- 
suited  to  parents  as  if  capricious  fairies  had  been  filling 
cradles  with  changelings. 

A  meek  member  of  the  Peace  Society,  a  tender,  devout, 
poetical  clergyman,  receives  an  heir  from  heaven,  and 
straightway  devotes  him  to  the  Christian  ministry.  But  lo ! 
the,  boy  proves  a  young  war-horse,  neighing  for  battle,  burn 
ing  for  gunpowder  and  guns,  for  bowie-knives  and  revolvers, 
and  for  every  form  and  expression  of  physical  force  ;  —  he 
might  make  a  splendid  trapper,  an  energetic  sea-captain,  a 
bold,  daring  military  man,  but  his  whole  boyhood  is  full  of 
rebukes  and  disciplines  for  sins  which  are  only  the  blind 
effort  of  the  creature  to  express  a  nature  which  his  parent 
does  not  and  cannot  understand.  So  again,  the  son  that  was 
to  have  upheld  the  old,  proud  merchant's  time-honored  firm, 
that  should  have  been  mighty  in  ledgers  and  great  upon 
'Change,  breaks  his  father's  heart  by  an  unintelligible  fancy 
for  weaving  poems  and  romances.  A  father  of  literary  aspi 
rations,  balked  of  privileges  of  early  education,  bends  over 
the  cradle  of  his  son  with  but  one  idea.  This  child  shall 
have  the  full  advantages  of  regular  college-training ;  and  so 
for  years  he  battles  with  a  boy  abhorring  study,  and  fitted 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  203 

only  for  a  life  of  out-door  energy  and  bold  adventure,  —  on 
•whom  Latin  forms  and  Greek  quantities  fall  and  melt  aimless 
and  useless,  as  snow-flakes  on  the  hide  of  a  buffalo.  Then 
the  secret  agonies,  —  the  long  years  of  sorrowful  watchings 
of  those  gentler  nurses  of  humanity  who  receive  the  infant 
into  their  bosom  out  of  the  void  unknown,  and  strive  to  read 
its  horoscope  through  the  mists  of  their  prayers  and  tears  ! 
—  what  perplexities,  —  what  confusion  !  Especially  is  this 
so  in  a  community  where  the  moral  and  religious  sense  is  so 
cultivated  as  in  New  England,  and  frail,  trembling,  self-dis 
trustful  mothers  are  told  that  the  shaping  and  ordering  not 
only  of  this  present  life,  but  of  an  immortal  destiny,  is  in 
their  hands. 

On  the  whole,  those  who  succeed  best  in  the  rearing  of 
children,  are  the  tolerant  and  easy  persons  who  instinctively 
follow  nature  and  accept  without  much  inquiry  whatever 
she  sends ;  or  that  far  smaller  class,  wise  to  discern  spirits 
and  apt  to  adopt  means  to  'their  culture  and  development, 
who  can  prudently  and  carefully  train  every  nature  accord 
ing  to  its  true  and  characteristic  ideal. 

Zephaniah  Fennel  was  a  shrewd  old  Yankee,  whose  in 
stincts  taught  him  from  the  first,  that  the  waif  that  had 
been  so  mysteriously  washed  out  of  the  gloom  of  the  sea  into 
his  family,  was  of  some  different  class  and  lineage  from  that 
which  might  have  filled  a  cradle  of  his  own,  and  of  a  nature 
which  he  could  not  perfectly  understand.  So  he  prudently 
watched  and  waited,  only  using  restraint  enough  to  keep 
the  boy  anchored  in  society,  and  letting  him  otherwise  grow 
up  in  the  solitary  freedom  of  his  lonely  seafaring  life. 

The  boy  was  from  childhood,  although  singularly  attrac 
tive,  of  a  moody,  fitful,  unrestful  nature,  —  eager,  earnest, 
but  unsteady,  —  with  varying  phases  of  imprudent  frankness 


204  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

and  of  the  most  stubborn  and  unfathomable  secretiveness. 
He  was  a  creature  of  unreasoning  antipathies  and  attrac 
tions.  As  Zephaniah  Fennel  said  of  him,  he  was  as  full  of 
hitches  as  an  old  bureau  drawer. 

His  peculiar  beauty,  and  a  certain  electrical  power  of  at 
traction,  seemed  to  form  a  constant  circle  of  protection  and 
forgiveness  around  him  in  the  home  of  his  foster-parents ; 
and  great  as  was  the  anxiety  and  pain  which  he  often  gave 
them,  they  somehow  never  felt  the  charge  of  him  as  a 
weariness. 

We  left  him  a  boy  beginning  Latin  with  Mr.  Sewell  in 
company  with  the  little  Mara.  This  arrangement  progressed 
prosperously  for  a  time,  and  the  good  clergyman,  all  whose 
ideas  of  education  ran  through  the  halls  of  a  college,  began  to 
have  hopes  of  turning  out  a  choice  scholar.  But  when  the 
boy's  ship  of  life  came  into  the  breakers  of  that  narrow  and 
intricate  channel  which  divides  boyhood  from  manhood,  the 
difficulties  that  had  always  attended  his  guidance  and  man 
agement  wore  an  intensified  form.  How  much  family  hap 
piness  is  wrecked  just  then  and  there  !  How  many  mothers* 
and  sisters'  hearts  are  broken  in  the  wild  and  confused  toss- 
ings  and  tearings  of  that  stormy  transition  ! 

A  whole  new  nature  is  blindly  upheaving  itself,  with  crav 
ings  and  clamorings,  which  neither  the  boy  himself  nor  often 
surrounding  friends  understand. 

A  shrewd  observer  has  significantly  characterized  the 
period  as  the  time  when  the  boy  wishes  he  were  dead,  and 
everybody  else  wishes  so  too.  The  wretched,  half-fledged, 
half-conscious,  anomalous  creature  has  all  the  desires  of  the 
man,  and  none  of  the  rights ;  has  a  double  and  triple  share 
of  nervous  edge  and  intensity  in  every  part  of  his  nature, 
and  no  definitely  perceived  objects  on  which  to  bestow  it,  — 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  205 

and,  of  course,  all  sorts  of  unreasonable  moods  and  phases 
are  the  result. 

One  of  the  most  common  signs  of  this  period,  in  some 
natures,  is  the  love  of  contradiction  and  opposition,  —  a  blind 
desire  to  go  contrary  to  everything  that  is  commonly  re 
ceived  among  the  older  people.  The  boy  disparages  the  min 
ister,  quizzes  the  deacon,  thinks  the  school-master  an  ass,  and 
does  n't  believe  in  the  Bible,  and  seems  to  be  rather  pleased 
than  otherwise  with  the  shock  and  flutter  that  all  these  an 
nouncements  create  among  peaceably  disposed  grown  people. 
No  respectable  hen  that  ever  hatched  out  a  brood  of  ducks, 
was  more  puzzled  what  to  do  with  them  than  was  poor  Mrs. 
Fennel  when  her  adopted  nursling  came  into  this  state. 
Was  he  a  boy?  an  immortal  soul?  a  reasonable  human 
being  ?  or  only  a  handsome  goblin  sent  to  torment  her  ? 

"  What  shall  we  do  with  him,  father  ? "  said  she,  one 
Sunday,  to  Zephaniah,  as  he  stood  shaving  before  the  little 
looking-glass  in  their  bedroom.  "  He  can't  be  governed 
like  a  child,  and  he  won't  govern  himself  like  a  man." 

Zephaniah  stopped  and  strapped  his  razor  reflectively. 

"  We  must  cast  out  anchor  and  wait  for  day,"  he  an 
swered.  "  Prayer  is  a  long  rope  with  a  strong  hold." 

It  was  just  at  this  critical  period  of  life  that  Moses  Pen- 
nel  was  drawn  into  associations  which  awoke  the  alarm  of 
all  his  friends,  and  from  which  the  characteristic  wilfulness 
of  his  nature  made  it  difficult  to  attempt  to  extricate  him. 

In  order  that  our  readers  may  fully  understand  this  part 
of  our  history,  we  must  give  some  few  particulars  as  to  the 
peculiar  scenery  of  Orr's  Island  and  the  state  of  the  country 
at  this  time. 

The  coast  of  Maine,  as  we  have  elsewhere  said,  is  remark 
able  for  a  singular  interpenetration  of  the  sea  with  the  land, 


206  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

forming  amid  its  dense  primeval  forests  secluded  bays,  nar 
row  and  deep,  into  which  vessels  might  float  with  the  tide, 
and  where  they  might  nestle  unseen  and  unsuspected  amid 
the  dense  shadows  of  the  overhanging  forest. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  very  brisk  business  done  all 
along  the  coast  of  Maine  in  the  way  of  smuggling.  Small 
vessels,  lightly  built  and  swift  of  sail,  would  run  up  into 
these  sylvan  fastnesses,  and  there  make  their  deposits  and 
transact  their  business  so  as  entirely  to  elude  the  vigilance 
of  government  officers. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  practices  of  this  kind  should 
ever  have  obtained  a  strong  foothold  in  a  community  pecul 
iar  for  its  rigid  morality  and  its  orderly  submission  to  law ; 
but  in  this  case,  as  in  many  others,  contempt  of  law  grew 
out  of  weak  and  unworthy  legislation.  The  celebrated 
embargo  of  Jefferson  stopped  at  once  the  whole  trade  of 
New  England,  and  condemned  her  thousand  ships  to  rot 
at  the  wharves,  and  caused  the  ruin  of  thousands  of  fam 
ilies. 

The  merchants  of  the  country  regarded  this  as  a  flagrant, 
high-handed  piece  of  injustice,  expressly  designed  to  cripple 
New  England  commerce,  and  evasions  of  this  unjust  law 
found  everywhere  a  degree  of  sympathy,  even  in  the  breasts 
of  well-disposed  and  conscientious  people.  In  resistance  to 
the  law,  vessels  were  constantly  fitted  out  which  ran  upon 
trading  voyages  to  the  West  Indies  and  other  places ;  and 
although  the  practice  was  punishable  as  smuggling,  yet  it 
found  extensive  connivance.  From  this  beginning  smug 
gling  of  all  kinds  gradually  grew  up  in  the  community,  and 
gained  such  a  foothold  that  even  after  the  repeal  of  the 
embargo  it  still  continued  to  be  extensively  practised.  Se 
cret  depositories  of  contraband  goods  still  existed  in  many 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  207 

of  the  lonely  haunts  of  islands  off  the  coast  of  Maine.  Hid 
in  deep  forest  shadows,  visited  only  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  were  these  illegal  stores  of  merchandise.  And  from 
these  secluded  resorts  they  found  their  way,  no  one  knew 
or  cared  to  say  how,  into  houses  for  miles  around. 

There  was  no  doubt  that  the  practice,  like  all  other  illegal 
ones,  was  demoralizing  to  the  community,  and  particularly 
fatal  to  the  character  of  that  class  of  bold,  enterprising 
young  men  who  would  be  most  likely  to  be  drawn  into 
it. 

Zephaniah  Fennel,  who  was  made  of  a  kind  of  straight- 
grained,  uncompromising  oaken  timber  such  as  built  the 
Mayflower  of  old,  had  always  borne  his  testimony  at  home 
and  abroad  against  any  violations  of  the  laws  of  the  land, 
however  veiled  under  the  pretext  of  righting  a  wrong  or 
resisting  an  injustice,  and  had  done  what  he  could  in  his 
neighborhood  to  enable  government  officers  to  detect  and 
break  up  these  unlawful  depositories.  This  exposed  him 
particularly  to  the  hatred  and  ill-will  of  the  operators  con 
cerned  in  such  affairs,  and  a  plot  was  laid  by  a  few  of  the 
most  daring  and  determined  of  them  to  establish  one  of  their 
depositories  on  Orr's  Island,  and  to  implicate  the  family  of 
Pennel  himself  in  the  trade.  This  would  accomplish  two 
purposes,  as  they  hoped,  —  it  would  be  a  mortification  and 
defeat  to  him,  —  a  revenge  which  they  coveted ;  and  it 
would,  they  thought,  insure  his  silence  and  complicity  for 
the  strongest  reasons. 

The  situation  and  characteristics  of  Orr's  Island  pecul 
iarly  fitted  it  for  the  carrying  out  of  a  scheme  of  this  kind, 
—  and  for  this  purpose  we  must  try  to  give  our  readers  a 
more  definite  idea  of  it. 

The  traveller  who  wants  a  ride  through  scenery  of  more 


208  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

varied  and  singular  beauty  than  can  ordinarily  be  found  on 
the  shores  of  any  land  whatever,  should  start  some  fine  clear 
day  along  the  clean  sandy  road,  ribboned  with  strips  of 
green  grass,  that  leads  through  the  flat  pitch-pine  forests 
of  Brunswick  toward  the  sea.  As  he  approaches  the  salt 
water,  a  succession  of  the  most  beautiful  and  picturesque 
lakes  seems  to  be  lying  softly  cradled  in  the  arms  of  wild, 
rocky  forest  shores,  whose  outlines  are  ever  changing  with 
the  windings  of  the  road. 

At  a  distance  of  about  six  or  eight  miles  from  Brunswick 
he  crosses  an  arm  of  the  sea,  and  comes  upon  the  first  of 
the  interlacing  group  of  islands  which  beautifies  the  shore. 
A  ride  across  this  island  is  a  constant  succession  of  pictures, 
whose  wild  and  solitary  beauty  entirely  distances  all  power 
of  description.  The  magnificence  of  the  evergreen  forests, 
—  their  peculiar  air  of  sombre  stillness,  —  the  rich  inter 
mingling  ever  and  anon  of  groves  of  birch,  beech,  and  oak, 
in  picturesque  knots  and  tufts,  as  if  set  for  effect  by  some 
skilful  landscape-gardener,  —  produce  a  sort  of  strange 
dreamy  wonder ;  while  the  sea,  breaking  forth  both  on  the 
right  hand  and  the  left  of  the  road  into  the  most  romantic 
glimpses,  seems  to  flash  and  glitter  like  some  strange  gem 
which  every  moment  shows  itself  through  the  framework 
of  a  new  setting.  Here  and  there  little  secluded  coves  push 
in  from  the  sea,  around  which  lie  soft  tracts  of  green  mead 
ow-land,  hemmed  in  and  guarded  by  rocky  pine-crowned 
ridges.  In  such  sheltered  spots  may  be  seen  neat  white 
houses,  nestling  like  sheltered  doves  in  the  beautiful  soli 
tude. 

When  one  has  ridden  nearly  to  the  end  of  Great  Island, 
which  is  about  four  miles  across,  he  sees  rising  before  him, 
from  the  sea,  a  bold  romantic  point  of  land,  uplifting  a 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  209 

crown  of  rich  evergreen  and  forest  trees  over  shores  of  per 
pendicular  rock.  This  is  Orr's  Island. 

It  was  not  an  easy  matter  in  the  days  of  our  past  expe 
rience  to  guide  a  horse  and  carriage  down  the  steep,  wild 
shores  of  Great  Island  to  the  long  bridge  that  connects  it  with 
Orr's.  The  sense  of  wild  seclusion  reaches  here  the  highest 

O 

degree ;  and  one  crosses  the  bridge  with  a  feeling  as  if  genii 
might  have  built  it,  and  one  might  be  going  over  it  to 
fairy-land.  From  the  bridge  the  path  rises  on  to  a  high 
granite  ridge,  which  runs  from  one  end  of  the  island  to  the 
other,  and  has  been  called  the  Devil's  Back,  with  that  super 
stitious  generosity  which  seems  to  have  abandoned  all  roman 
tic  places  to  so  undeserving  an  owner. 

By  the  side  of  this  ridge  of  granite  is  a  deep,  narrow 
chasm,  running  a  mile  and  a  half  or  two  miles  parallel  with 
the  road,  and  veiled  by  the  darkest  and  most  solemn  shadows 
of  the  primeval  forest.  Here  scream  the  jays  and  the  eagles, 
and  fish-hawks  make  their  nests  undisturbed ;  and  the  tide 
rises  and  falls  under  black  branches  of  evergreen,  from  which 
depend  long,  light  festoons  of  delicate  gray  moss.  The  dark 
ness  of  the  forest  is  relieved  by  the  delicate  foliage  and  the 
silvery  trunks  of  the  great  white  birches,  which  the  solitude 
of  centuries  has  allowed  to  grow  in  this  spot  to  a  height  and 
size  seldom  attained  elsewhere. 

It  was  this  narrow,  rocky  cove  that  had  been  chosen  by 
the  smuggler  Atkinson  and  his  accomplices  as  a  safe  and 
secluded  resort  for  their  operations.  He  was  a  sea-faring 
man  of  Bath,  one  of  that  class  who  always  prefer  uncertain 
and  doubtful  courses  to  those  which  are  safe  and  reputable. 
He  was  possessed  of  many  of  those  traits  calculated  to  make 
him  a  hero  in  the  eyes  of  young  men  ;  was  dashing,  free, 
and  frank  in  his  manners,  with  a  fund  of  humor  and  an 


210  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

abundance  of  ready  anecdote  which  made  his  society  fas 
cinating;  but  he  concealed  beneath  all  these  attractions  a 
character  of  hard,  grasping,  unscrupulous  selfishness,  and 
an  utter  destitution  of  moral  principle. 

Moses,  now  in  his  sixteenth  year,  and  supposed  to  be  in  a 
general  way  doing  well,  under  the  care  of  the  minister,  was 
left  free  to  come  and  go  at  his  own  pleasure,  unwatched  by 
Zephaniah,  whose  fishing  operations  often  took  him  for  weeks 
from  home. 

Atkinson  hung  about  the  boy's  path,  engaging  him  first  in 
fishing  or  hunting  enterprises ;  plied  him  with  choice  prep 
arations  of  liquor,  with  which  he  would  enhance  the  hilarity 
of  their  expeditions ;  and  finally  worked  on  his  love  of 
adventure  and  that  impatient  restlessness  incident  to  his 
period  of  life  to  draw  him  fully  into  his  schemes.  Moses 
lost  all  interest  in  his  lessons,  often  neglecting  them  for  days 
at  a  time  —  accounting  for  his  negligence  by  excuses  which 
were  far  from  satisfactory.  When  Mara  would  expostulate 
with  him  about  this,  he  would  break  out  upon  her  with  a 
fierce  irritation.  Was  he  always  going  to  be  tied  to  a  girl's 
apron-string?  He  was  tired  of  study,  and  tired  of  old 
Sewell,  whom  he  declared  an  old  granny  in  a  white  wig, 
who  knew  nothing  of  the  world.  He  was  n't  going  to  col 
lege  —  it  was  altogether  too  slow  for  him  —  he  was  going  to 
see  life  and  push  ahead  for  himself. 

^  Mara's  life  during  this  time  was  intensely  wearing.  A 
frail,  slender,  delicate  girl  of  thirteen,  she  carried  a  heart 
prematurely  old  with  the  most  distressing  responsibility  of 
mature  life,  ijler  love  for  Moses  had  always  had  in  it  a 
large  admixture  of  that  maternal  and  care-taking  element 
which,  in  some^  shape  or  other,  qualifies  the  affection  of 
woman  to  man.  \  Ever  since  that  dream  of  babyhood,  when 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  211 

the  vision  of  a  pale  mother  had  led  the  beautiful  boy  to  her 
arms,  Mara  had  accepted  him  as  something  exclusively  her 
own,  with  an  intensity  of  ownership  that  seemed  almost  to 
merge  her  personal  identity  with  his.  \  She  felt,  and  saw, 
and  enjoyed,  and  suffered  in  him,  and  yet  was  conscious  of  a 
higher  nature  in  herself,  by  which  unwillingly  he  was  often 
judged  and  condemned.  His  faults  affected  her  with  a  kind 
of  guilty  pain,  as  if  they  were  her  own  ;  his  sins  were  borne 
bleeding  in  her  heart  in  silence,  and  with  a  jealous  watch 
fulness  to  hide  them  from  every  eye  but  hers.  She  busied 
herself  day  and  night  interceding  and  making  excuses  for 
him,  first  to  her  own  sensitive  moral  nature,  and  then  with 
everybody  around,  for  with  one  or  another  he  was  coming 
into  constant  collision.  She  felt  at  this  time  a  fearful  load 
of  suspicion,  which  she  dared  not  express  to  a  human  being. 

Up  to  this  period  she  had  always  been  the  only  confidant 
of  Moses,  who  poured  into  her  ear  without  reserve  all  the 
good  and  the  evil  of  his  nature,  and  who  loved  her  with  all 
the  intensity  with  which  he  was  capable  of  loving  anything. 
Nothing  so  much  shows  what  a  human  being  is  in  moral 
advancement  as  the  quality  of  his  love.  Moses  Fennel's 
love  was  egotistic,  exacting,  tyrannical,  and  capricious  — 
sometimes  venting  itself  in  expressions  of  a  passionate  fond 
ness,  which  had  a  savor  of  protecting  generosity  in  them, 
and  then  receding  to  the  icy  pole  of  surly  petulance.  For 
all  that,  there  was  no  resisting  the  magnetic  attraction  with 
which  in  his  amiable  moods  he  drew  those  whom  he  liked  to 
himself. 

Such  people  are  not  very  wholesome  companions  for  those 
who  are  sensitively  organized  and  predisposed  to  self  sacrific 
ing  love.  They  keep  the  heart  in  a  perpetual  freeze  and 
thaw,  which,  like  the  American  northern  climate,  is  so  par- 


212  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

ticularly  fatal  to  plants  of  a  delicate  habit.  They  could  live 
through  the  hot  summer  and  the  cold  winter,  but  they  can 
not  endure  the  three  or  four  months  when  it  freezes  one  day 
and  melts  the  next,  —  when  all  the  buds  are  started  out  by  a 
week  of  genial  sunshine,  and  then  frozen  for  a  fortnight. 
These  fitful  persons  are  of  all  others  most  engrossing,  be 
cause  you  are  always  sure  in  their  good  moods  that  they  are 
just  going  to  be  angels,  —  an  expectation  which  no  number 
of  disappointments  seems  finally  to  do  away.  Mara  believed 
in  Moses'  future  as  she  did  in  her  own  existence.  He  was 
going  to  do  something  great  and  good,  —  that  she  was  certain 
of.  He  would  be  a  splendid  man  !  Nobody,  she  thought, 
knew  him  as  she  did ;  nobody  could  know  how  good  and 
generous  he  was  sometimes,  and  how  frankly  he  would  con 
fess  his  faults,  and  what  noble  aspirations  he  had  ! 

But  there  was  no  concealing  from  her  watchful  sense  that 
Moses  was  beginning  to  have  secrets  from  her.  He  was 
cloudy  and  murky  ;  and  at  some  of  the  most  harmless  in 
quiries  in  the  world,  would  flash  out  with  a  sudden  temper, 
as  if  she  had  touched  some  sore  spot. 

Her  bedroom  was  opposite  to  his ;  and  she  became  quite 
sure  that  night  after  night,  while  .she  lay  thinking  of  him, 
she  heard  him  steal  down  out  of  the  house  between  two  and 
three  o'clock,  and  not  return  till  a  little  before  day-dawn. 
Where  he  went,  and  with  whom,  and  what  he  was  doing, 
was  to  her  an  awful  mystery,  —  and  it  was  one  she  dared 
not  share  with  a  human  being.  If  she, told  her  kind  old 
grandfather,  she  feared  that  any  inquiry  from  him  would 
only  light  as  a  spark  on  that  inflammable  spirit  of  pride  and 
insubordination  that  was  rising  within  him,  and  bring  on  an 
instantaneous  explosion.  Mr.  Sewell's  influence  she  could 
hope  little  more  from  ;  and  as  to  poor  Mrs.  Fennel,  such 


THE  PEAEL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  213 

communications  would  only  weary  and  distress  her,  without 
doing  any  manner  of  good.  There  was,  therefore,  only  that 
one  unfailing  Confidant  —  the  Invisible  Friend  to  whom  the 
solitary  child  could  pour  out  her  heart,  and  whose  inspira 
tions  of  comfort  and  guidance  never  fail  to  come  again  in 
return  to  true  souls. 

One  moonlight  night,  as  she  lay  thus  praying,  her  senses, 
sharpened  by  watching,  discerned  a  sound  of  steps  treading 
under  her  window,  and  then  a  low  whistle.  Her  heart  beat 
violently,  and  she  soon  heard  the  door  of  Moses'  room 
open,  and  then  the  old  chamber-stairs  gave  forth  those  incon 
siderate  creaks  and  snaps  that  garrulous  old  stairs  always 
will  when  anybody  is  desirous  of  making  them  accomplices 
in  a  night-secret.  Mara  rose,  and  undrawing  her  curtain, 
saw  three  men  standing  before  the  house,  and  saw  Moses 
come  out  and  join  them.  Quick  as  thought  she  threw  on 
her  clothes,  and  wrapping  her  little  form  in  a  dark  cloak, 
with  a  hood,  followed  them  out.  She  kept  at  a  safe  distance 
behind  them,  —  so  far  back  as  just  to  keep  them  in  sight. 
They  never  looked  back,  and  seemed  to  say  but  little  till 
they  approached  the  edge  of  that  deep  belt  of  forest  which 
shrouds  so  large  a  portion  of  the  island.  She  hurried  along, 
now  nearer  to  them  lest  they  should  be  lost  to  view  in  the 
deep  shadows,  while  they  went  on  crackling  and  plunging 
through  the  dense  underbrush. 


UfflfBI 


214  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

IT  was  well  for  Mara  that  so  much  of  her  life  had  been 
passed  in  wild  forest  rambles.  She  looked  frail  as  the  rays 
of  moonbeam  which  slid  down  the  old  white-bearded  hem 
locks,  but  her  limbs  were  agile  and  supple  as  steel ;  and 
while  the  party  went  crashing  on  before,  she  followed  with 
such  lightness  that  the  slight  sound  of  her  movements  was 
entirely  lost  in  the  heavy  crackling  plunges  of  the  party. 
Her  little  heart  was  beating  fast  and  hard  ;  but  could  any 
one  have  seen  her  face,  as  it  now  and  then  came  into  a  spot 
of  moonshine,  they  might  have  seen  it  fixed  in  a  deadly  ex 
pression  of  resolve  and  determination.  She  was  going  after 
him  —  no  matter  where  ;  she  was  resolved  to  know  who  and 
what  it  was  that  was  leading  him  away,  as  her  heart  told 
her,  to  no  good.  Deeper  and  deeper  into  the  shadows  of 
the  forest  they  went,  and  the  child  easily  kept  up  with  them. 

Mara  had  often  rambled  for  whole  solitary  days  in  this 
lonely  wood,  and  knew  all  its  rocks  and  dells  the  whole 
three  miles  to  the  long  bridge  at  the  other  end  of  the  island. 
iBut  she  had  never  before  seen  it  under  the  solemn  stillness 
of  midnight  moonlight,  which  gives  to  the  most  familiar  ob 
jects  such  a  strange,  ghostly  charm.  After  they  had  gone  a 
mile  into  the  forest,  she  could  see  through  the  black  spruces 
silver  gleams  of  the  sea,  and  hear,  amid  the  whirr  and  sway 
of  the  pine-tops,  the  dash  of  the  ever  restless  tide  which 
pushed  up  the  long  cove.  It  was  at  the  full,  as  she  could 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  215 

discern  with  a  rapid  glance  of  her  practised  eye,  expertly 
versed  in  the  knowledge  of  every  change  of  the  solitary 
nature  around. 

And  now  the  party  began  to  plunge  straight  down  the 
rocky  ledge  of  the  Devil's  Back,  on  which  they  had  been 
walking  hitherto,  into  the  deep  ravine  where  lay  the  cove. 
It  was  a  scrambling,  precipitous  way,  over  perpendicular 
walls  of  rock,  whose  crevices  furnished  anchoring-places  for 
grand  old  hemlocks  or  silver-birches,  and  whose  rough  sides, 
leathery  with  black  flaps  of  lichen,  were  all  tangled  and  in 
terlaced  with  thick  netted  bushes. 

The  men  plunged  down  laughing,  shouting,  and  swearing 
at  their  occasional  missteps,  and  silently  as  moon-beam  or 
thistle-down  the  light-footed  shadow  went  down  after  them. 

She  suddenly  paused  behind  a  pile  of  rock,  as,  through  an 
opening  between  two  great  spruces,  the  sea  gleamed  out  like 
a  sheet  of  looking-glass  set  in  a  black  frame.  And  here  the 
child  saw  a  small  vessel  swinging  at  anchor,  with  the  moon 
light  full  on  its  slack  sails,  and  she  could  hear  the  gentle 
gurgle  and  lick  of  the  green-tongued  waves  as  they  dashed 
under  it  toward -the  rocky  shore. 

Mara  stopped  with  a  beating  heart  as  she  saw  the  com 
pany  making  for  the  schooner.  The  tide  is  high  ;  will  they 
go  on  board  and  sail  away  with  him  where  she  cannot  fol 
low  ?  What  could  she  do  ?  In  an  ecstasy  of  fear  she 
kneeled  down  and  asked  God  not  to  let  him  go,  —  to  give 
her  at  least  one  more  chance  to  save  him. 

For  the  pure  and  pious  child  had  heard  enough  of  the 
words  of  these  men,  as  she  walked  behind  them,  to  fill  her 
with    horror.     She    had    never  before    heard   an    oath,  but 
there  came  back  from  these  men  coarse,  brutal  tones  and  I 
words  of  blasphemy  that  froze  her  blood  with  horror.     And 


2.16  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

Moses  was  going  with  them  !  She  felt  somehow  as  if  they 
must  be  a  company  of  fiends  bearing  him  to  his  ruin. 

For  some  time  she  kneeled  there  watching  behind  the 
rock,  while  Moses  and  his  companions  went  on  board  the  lit 
tle  schooner,  j  She  had  no  feeling  of  horror  at  the  loneliness 
of  her  own  situation,  for  her  solitary  life  had  made  every 
woodland  thing  dear  and  familiar  to  her.  She  was  cowering 
down  on  a  loose,  spongy  bed  of  moss,  which  was  all  threaded 
through  and  through  with  the  green  vines  and  pale  pink 
blossoms  of  the  mayflower,  and  she  felt  its  fragrant  breath 
steaming  up  in  the  moist  moonlight.  As  she  leaned  forward 
to  look  through  a  rocky  crevice,  her  arms  rested  on  a  bed  of 
that  brittle  white  moss  she  had  often  gathered  with  so  much 
admiration,  and  a  scarlet  rock-columbine,  such  as  she  loved 
to  paint,  brushed  her  cheek,  —  and  all  these  mute  fair  things 
seemed  to  strive  to  keep  her  company  in  her  chill  suspense 
of  watchfulness.  Two  whippoorwills,  from  a  clump  of  sil 
very  birches,  kept  calling  to  each  other  in  melancholy  iter 
ation,  while  she  staid  there  still  listening,  and  knowing  by 
an  occasional  sound  of  laughing,  or  the  explosion  of  some 
oath,  that  the  men  were  not  yet  gone.  At  last  they  all  ap 
peared  again,  and  came  to  a  cleared  place  among  the  dry 
leaves,  quite  near  to  the  rock  where  she  was  concealed,  and 
kindled  a  fire,  which  they  kept  snapping  and  crackling  by  a 
constant  supply  of  green  resinous  hemlock  branches. 

The  red  flame  danced  and  leaped  through  the  green  fuel, 
and  leaping  upward  in  tongues  of  flame,  cast  ruddy  bronze 
reflections  on  the  old  pine-trees  with  their  long  branches  wav 
ing  with  beards  of  white  moss,  —  and  by  the  firelight  Mara 
could  see  two  men  in  sailor's  dress  with  pistols  in  their  belts, 
and  the  man  Atkinson,  whom  she  had  recollected  as  having 
seen  once  or  twice  at  her  grandfather's.  She  remembered 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  217 

how  she  had  always  shrunk  from  him  with  a  strange  instinc 
tive  dislike,  half  fear,  half  disgust,  when  he  had  addressed 
her  with  that  kind  of  free  admiration,  which  men  of  his  class 
often  feel  themselves  at  liberty  to  express  to  a  pretty  girl  of 
her  early  age.  He  was  a  man  that  might  have  been  hand 
some,  had  it  not  been  for  a  certain  strange  expression  of 
covert  wickedness.  It  was  as  if  some  vile  evil  spirit,  walk 
ing,  as  the  Scriptures  say,  through  dry  places,  had  lighted 
on  a  comely  man's  body,  in  which  he  had  set  up  house-keep 
ing,  making  it  look  like  a  fair  house  abused  by  an  unclean 
owner. 

As  Mara  watched  his  demeanor  with  Moses,  she  could 
think  only  of  a  loathsome  black  snake  that  she  had  once 
seen  in  those  solitary  rocks  ;  —  she  felt  as  if  his  handsome 
but  evil  eye  were  charming  him  with  an  evil  charm  to  his 
destruction. 

"  Well,  Mo,  my  boy,"  .  she  heard  him  say,  —  slapping 
Moses  on  the  shoulder,  —  "  this  is  something  like.  We  '11 
have  a  '  tempus/  as  the  college  fellows  say,  —  put  down  the 
clams  to  roast,  and  I  '11  mix  the  punch,"  he  said,  setting  over 
the  fire  a  tea-kettle  which  they  brought  from  the  ship. 

After  their  preparations  were  finished,  all  sat  down  to  eat 
and  drink.  Mara  listened  with  anxiety  and  horror  to  a  con 
versation  such  as  she  never  heard  or  conceived  before.  It 
is  not  often  that  women  hear  men  talk  in  the  undisguised 
manner  which  they  use  among  themselves  ;  but  the  conver 
sation  of  men  of  unprincipled  lives,  and  low,  brutal  habits, 
unchecked  by  the  presence  of  respectable  female  society, 
might  well  convey  to  the  horror-struck  child  a  feeling  as  if 
she  were  listening  at  the  mouth  of  hell.  Almost  every  word 
was  preceded  or  emphasized  by  an  oath ;  and  what  struck 
with  a  death  chill  to  her  heart  was,  that  Moses  swore  too, 
10 


218  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

and  seemed  to  show  that  desperate  anxiety  to  seem  au  fait 
in  the  language  of  wickedness,  which  boys  often  do  at  that 
age,  when  they  fancy  that  to  be  ignorant  of  vice  is  a 
mark  of  disgraceful  greenness.  Moses  evidently  was  bent 
on  showing  that  he  was  not  green,  —  ignorant  of  the  pure 
ear  to  which  every  such  word  came  like  the  blast  of  death. 

He  drank  a  great  deal,  too,  and  the  mirth  among  them 
grew  "furious  and  terrific.  Mara,  horrified  and  shocked,  as 
she  was,  did  not,  however,  lose  that  intense  and  alert  pres 
ence  of  mind,  natural  to  persons  in  whom  there  is  moral 
strength,  however  delicate  be  their  physical  frame.  She 
felt  at  once  that  these  men  were  playing  upon  Moses ;  that 
they  bad  an  object  in  view  ;  that  they  were  flattering  and 
cajoling  him,  and  leading  him  to  drink,  that  they  might  work 
out  some  fiendish  purpose  of  their  own.  The  man  called 
Atkinson  related  story  after  story  of  wild  adventure,  in 
which  sudden  fortunes  had  been  made  by  men  who,  he  said, 
were  not  afraid  to  take  "  the  short  cut  across  lots."  He  told 
of  piratical  adventures  in  the  West  Indies,  —  of  the  fun  of 
chasing  and  overhauling  ships,  —  and  gave  dazzling  ac 
counts  of  the  treasures  found  on  board.  It  was  observable 
that  all  these  stories  were  told  on  the  line  between  joke  and 
earnest,  —  as  frolics,  as  specimens  of  good  fun,  and  seeing 
life,  etc. 

At  last  came  a  suggestion,  —  What  if  they  should  start  off 
together  some  fine  day  "just  for  a  spree,"  and  try  a  cruise 
in  the  West  Indies,  to  see  what  they  could  pick  up  ?  They 
had  arms,  and  a  gang  of  fine,  whole-souled  fellows.  Moses 
had  been  tied  to  Ma'am  Fennel's  apron-string  long  enough. 
And  "  hark  ye,"  said  one  of  them,  "  Moses,  they  say  old 
Fennel  has  lots  of  dollars  in  that  old  sea-chest  of  his'n.  It 
would  be  a  kindness  to  him  to  invest  them  for  him  in  an 
adventure." 


THE   PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  219 

Moses  answered  with  a  streak  of  the  boy  innocence  which 
often  remains  under  the  tramping  of  evil  men,  like  ribbons 
of  green  turf  in  the  middle  of  roads  :  — 

"  You  don't  know  Father  Fennel,  —  why,  he  'd  no  more 
come  into  it  than  " 

A  perfect  roar  of  laughter  cut  short  this  declaration,  and 
Atkinson,  slapping  Moses  on  the  back,  said,  — 

"  By ,  Mo  !  you  are  the  jolliest  green  dog  !  I  shall 

die  a-laughing  of  your  innocence  some  day.  Why,  my  boy, 
can't  you  see  ?  Fennel's  money  can  be  invested  without 
asking  him." 

"  Why,  he  keeps  it  locked,"  said  Moses. 

"  And  supposing  you  pick  the  lock  ?  " 

"  Not  I,  indeed,"  said  Moses,  making  a  sudden  movement 
to  rise. 

Mara  almost  screamed  in  her  ecstasy,  but  she  had  sense 
enough  to  hold  her  breath. 

"  Ho  !  see  him  now,"  said  Atkinson,  lying  back,  and  hold 
ing  his  sides  while  he  laughed,  and  rolled  over ;  "  you  can 
get  off  anything  on  that  muff,  —  any  hoax  in  the  world,  — 
he 's  so  soft !  Come,  come,  my  dear  boy,  sit  down.  I  was 
only  seeing  how  wide  I  could  make  you  open  those  great 
black  eyes  of  your'n,  —  that 's  all." 

"  You  'd  better  take  care  how  you  joke  with  me,"  said 
Moses,  with  that  look  of  gloomy  determination  which  Mara 
was  quite  familiar  with  of  old.  It  was  the  rallying  effort  of 
a  boy  who  had  abandoned  the  first  outworks  of  virtue  to 
make  a  stand  for  the  citadel.  And  Atkinson,  like  a  prudent 
besieger  after  a  repulse,  returned  to  lie  on  his  arms. 

-He  began  talking  volubly  on  other  subjects,  telling  stories, 
and  singing  songs,  and  pressing  Moses  to  drink. 

Mara  was  comforted  to  see  that  he  declined  drinking,  — 


220  THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

that  he  looked  gloomy  and  thoughtful,  in  spite  of  the  jokes 
of  his  companions  ;  but  she  trembled  to  see,  by  the  follow 
ing  conversation,  how  Atkinson  was  skilfully  and  prudently 
making  apparent  to  Moses  the  extent  to  which  he  had  him 
in  his  power.  He  seemed  to  Mara  like  an  ugly  spider  skil 
fully  weaving  his  web  around  a  fly.  She  felt  cold  and  faint ; 
but  within  her  there  was  a  heroic  strength. 

She  was  not  going  to  faint ;  she  would  make  herself  bear 
up.  She  was  going  to  do  something  to  get  Moses  out  of 
this  snare,  —  but  what  ?  At  last  they  rose. 

"  It  is  past  three  o'clock,"  she  heard  one  of  them  say. 

"  I  say,  Mo,"  said  Atkinson,  "  you  must  make  tracks  for 
home,  or  you  won't  be  in  bed  when  Mother  Fennel  calls 
you." 

The  men  all  laughed  at  this  joke  as  they  turned  to  go  on 
board  the  schooner. 

When  they  were  gone,  Moses  threw  himself  down  and  hid 
his  face  in  his  hands.  He  knew  not  what  pitying  little  face 
was  looking  down  upon  him  from  the  hemlock  shadows,  — 
what  brave  little  heart  was  determined  to  save  him.  He 
was  in  one  of  those  great  crises  of  agony  that  boys  pass 
through  when  they  first  awake  from  the  fun  and  frolic  of 
unlawful  enterprises  to  find  themselves  sold  under  sin,  and 
feel  the  terrible  logic  of  evil  which  constrains  them  to  pass 
from  the  less  to  greater  crime.  He  felt  that  he  was  in  the 
power  of  bad,  unprincipled,  heartless  men,  who,  if  he  refused 
to  do  their  bidding,  had  the  power  to  expose  him.  All  lie 
had  been  doing  would  come  out.  His  kind  old  foster-parents 
would  know  it.  Mara  would  know  it.  Mr.  Sewell  and  Miss 
Emily  would  know  the  secrets  of  his  life  that  past  month. 
He  felt  as  if  they  were  all  looking  at  him  now.  He  had  dis 
graced  himself,  —  had  sunk  below  his  education,  —  had  been 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S  ISLAND.  221 

false  to  all  his  better  knowledge  and  the  past  expectations  of 
his  friends,  —  living  a  mean,  miserable,  dishonorable  life,  — 
and  now  the  ground  was  fast  sliding  from  under  him,  and  the 
next  plunge  might  be  down  a  precipice  from  which  there 
would  be  no  return.     What  he  had  done  up  to  this  hour  had 
been  done  in  the  roystering,  inconsiderate  gamesomeness  of 
boyhood.     It  had  been  represented  to  himself  only  as  "  sow 
ing  wild  oats,"  "  having  steep  times,"  "  seeing  a  little  of  life," 
and  so  on ;  but  this  night  he  had  had  propositions  of  piracy   j 
and  robbery  made  to  him,  and  he  had  not  dared  to  knock  / 
down  the  man  that  made  them,  —  had  not  dared  at  once  to  j 
break  away  from  his  company.    He  must  meet  him  again,  — 
must  go  on  with  him,  or  —  he  groaned  in  agony  at  the  thought. 
It  was  a   strong  indication  of  that  repressed,  considerate 
habit  of  mind  which  love  had  wrought  in   the  child,  that 
when  Mara  heard  the  boy's  sobs  rising  in  the  stillness,  she 
did  not,  as  she  wished  to,  rush  out   and   throw  her   arms 
around  his  neck  and  try  to  comfort  him. 

But  she  felt  instinctively  that  she  must  not  do  this.  She 
must  not  let  him  know  that  she  had  discovered  his  secret  by 
stealing  after  him  thus  in  the  night  shadows.  She  knew  how 
nervously  he  had  resented  even  the  compassionate  glances 
she  had  cast  upon  him  in  his  restless,  turbid  intervals  during 
the  past  few  weeks,  and  the  fierceness  with  which  he  had 
replied  to  a  few/ timid  inquiries.  No,  —  though  her  heart 
was  breaking  for  him,  it  was  a  shrewd,  wise  little  heart,  and 
resolved  not  to  spoil  all  by  yielding  to  its  first  untaught  im 
pulses.  She  repressed  herself  as  the  mother  does  who  fe^ 
Trains  from  crying  out  when  she  sees  her  unconscious  little 
,one  on  the  verge  of  a  precipice. 

When  Moses  rose  and  moodily  began  walking  homeward, 
she  followed  at  a  distance.     She  could  now  keep  farther  off, 


222  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

for  she"  knew  the  way  through  every  part  of  the  forest,  and 
she  only  wanted  to  keep  within  sound  of  his  footsteps  to 
make  sure  that  he  was  going  home. 

When  he  emerged  from  the  forest  into  the  open  moonlight, 
she  sat  down  in  its  shadows  and  watched  him  as  he  walked 
over  the  open  distance  between  her  and  the  house.  He  went 
in ;  and  then  she  waited  a  little  longer  for  him  to  be  quite 
retired.  She  thought  he  would  throw  himself  on  the  bed, 
and  then  she  could  steal  in  after  him.  So  she  sat  there  quite 
in  the  shadows. 

The  grand  full  moon  was  riding  high  and  calm  in  the  pur 
ple  sky,  and  Harpswell  Bay  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  wide, 
open  ocean  on  the  other,  lay  all  in  a  silver  shimmer  of  light. 
There  was  not  a  sound  save  the  plash  of  the  tide,  now  be 
ginning  to  go  out,  and  rolling  and  rattling  the  pebbles  up 
and  down  as  it  came  and  went,  and  once  in  a  while  the  dis 
tant,  mournful  intoning  of  the  whippoorvvill.  There  were 
silent,  lonely  ships,  sailing  slowly  to  and  fro  far  out  to  sea, 
turning  their  fair  wings  now  into  bright  light  and  now  into 
shadow,  as  they  moved  over  the  glassy  stillness.  Mara 
could  see  all  the  houses  on  Harpswell  Neck  and  the  white 
church  as  clear  as  in  the  daylight.  It  seemed  to  her  some 
strange,  unearthly  dream. 

As  she  sat  there  she  thought  over  her  whole  little  life,  all 
full  of  one  thought,  one  purpose,  one  love,  one  prayer,  for 
this  being  so  strangely  given  to  her  out  of  that  silent  sea, 
which  lay  so  like  a  still  eternity  around  her,  —  and  she  re 
volved  again  what  meant  the  vision  of  her  childhood.  Did 

it  not  mean  that  she  was  to  watch  over  him  and  save  him 
t" — • 

from  some  dreadful  danger  ?     That  poor  mother  was  lying 

j     now  silent  and  peaceful  under  the  turf  in  the  little  graveyard 
/     not  far  off,  and  she  must  care  for  her  boy. 


THE  PEARL   OF   OKR'S   ISLAND.  223 

A  strong  motherly  feeling  swelled  out  the  girl's  heart,  — 
she  felt  that  she  must,  she  would,  somehow  save  that  treasure 
which  had  so  mysteriously  been  committed  to  her. 

So,  when  she  thought  she  had  given  time  enough  for 
Moses  to  be  quietly  asleep  in  his  room,  she  arose  and 
ran  with  quick  footsteps  across  the  moonlit  plain  to  the 
house. 

The  front-door  was  standing  wide  open,  as  was  always  the 
innocent  fashion  in  these  regions,  with  a  half-angle  of  moon 
light  and  shadow  lying  within  its  dusky  depths.  Mara 
listened  a  moment,  —  no  sound:  he  had  gone  to  bed  then. 
"  Poor  boy,"  she  said,  "  I  hope  he  is  asleep  ;  how  he  must 
feel !  poor  fellow.  It 's  all  the  fault  of  those  dreadful  men  ! " 
said  the  little  dark  shadow  to  herself,  as  she  stole  up  the 
stairs  past  his  room  as  guiltily  as  if  she  were  the  sinner. 
Once  the  stairs  creaked,  and  her  heart  was  in  her  mouth, 
but  she  gained  her  room  and  shut  and  bolted  the  door. 

She  kneeled  down  by  her  little  white  bed,  and  thanked 
God  that  she  had  come  in  safe,  and  then  prayed  him  to 
teach  her  what  to  do  next. 

She  felt  chilly  and  shivering,  and  crept  into  bed,  and  lay 
with  her  great  soft  brown  eyes  wide  open,  intently  thinking 
what  she  should  do. 

Should  she  tell  her  grandfather  ?  Something  instinctively 
said  No  ;  that  the  first  word  from  him  which  showed  Moses 
he  was  detected,  would  at  once  send  him  off  with  those 
wicked  men.  "  He  would  never,  never  bear  to  have  this 
known,"  she  said.  Mr.  Sewell  ?  —  ah,  that  was  worse. 
She  herself  shrank  from  letting  him  know  what  Moses  had 
been  doing ;  she  could  not  bear  to  lower  him  so  much  in  his 
eyes.  He  could  not  make  allowances,  she  thought.  He  is 
good  to  be  sure,  but  he  is  so  old  and  grave,  and  does  n't 


224  THE  PEARL  OF   ORR'S   ISLAND. 

know  how  much  Moses  has  been  tempted  by  these  dreadful 
men  ;  and  then  perhaps  he  would  tell  Miss  Emily,  and  they 
never  would  want  Moses  to  come  there  any  more. 

MYhat  shall  I  do  ?  "  she  said  to  herself.  "  I  must  get 
somebody  to  help  me  or  tell  me  what  to  do.  I  can't  tell 
grandmamma ;  it  would  only  make  her  ill,  and  she  would  n't 
know  what  to  do  any  more  than  I.  Ah,  I  know  what  I  will 
do,  —  I  '11  tell  Captain  Kittridge  ;  he  was  always  so  kind  to 
me ;  and  he  has  been  to  sea  and  seen  all  sorts  of  men,  and 
Moses  won't  care  so  much  perhaps  to  have  him  know,  be 
cause  the  Captain  is  such  a  funny  man,  and  don't  take 
everything  so  seriously.  Yes,  that 's  it.  I  '11  go  right 
down  to  the  cove  in  the  morning.  God  will  bring  me 
through,  I  know  He  will ; "  and  the  little  weary  head  fell 
back  on  the  pillow  asleep.  And  as  she  slept,  a  smile  set 
tled  over  her  face,  perhaps  a  reflection  from  the  face  of  her 
good  angel,  who  always  beholdeth  the  face  of  our  Father  in 
Heaven. 


THE   PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  225 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

MARA  was  so  wearied  with  her  night  walk  and  the  agita 
tion  she  had  been  through,  that  once  asleep  she  slept  long 
after  the  early  breakfast  hour  of  the  family.  She  was  sur 
prised  on  awaking  to  hear  the  slow  old  clock  down-stairs 
striking  eight. 

She  hastily  jumped  up  and  looked  around  with  a  confused 
wonder,  and  then  slowly  the  events  of  the  past  night  came 
back  upon  her  like  a  remembered  dream.  She  dressed 
herself  quickly,  and  went  down  to  find  the  breakfast  things 
all  washed  and  put  away,  and  Mrs.  Pennel  spinning. 

"  Why,  dear  heart,"  said  the  old  lady,  "  how  came  you  to 
sleep  so  ?  —  I  spoke  to  you  twice,  but  I  could  not  make  you 
hear." 

"  Has  Moses  been  down,  grandma  ?  "  said  Mara,  intent  on 
the  sole  thought  in  her  heart. 

"  Why,  yes,  dear,  long  ago,  —  and  cross  enough  he  was  ; 
that  boy  does  get  to  be  a  trial,  —  but  come,  dear,  I  've 
saved  some  hot  cakes  for  you,  —  sit  down  now  and  eat 
your  breakfast." 

Mara  made  a  feint  of  eating  what  her  grandmother  with 
fond  officiousness  would  put  before  her,  and  then  rising  up 
she  put  on  her  sun-bonnet  and  started  down  toward  the  cove 
to  find  her  old  friend. 

The  queer,  dry,  lean  old  Captain  had  been  to  her  all  her 
life  like  a  faithful  kobold  or  brownie,  an  unquestioning  ser- 
10* 


226  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

vant  of  all  her  gentle  biddings.  She  dared  tell  him  any 
thing  without  diffidence  or  shamefacedness  ;  and  she  felt  that 
in  this  trial  of  her  life  he  might  have  in  his  sea-receptacle 
some  odd  old  amulet  or  spell  that  should  be  of  power  to  help 
her.  Instinctively  she  avoided  the  house,  lest  Sally  should 
see  and  fly  out  and  seize  her.  She  took  a  narrow  path 
through  the  cedars  down  to  the  little  boat  cove  where  the 
old  Captain  worked  so  merrily  ten  years  ago,  in  the  begin 
ning  of  our  story,  and  where  she  found  him  now  with  his 
coat  off  busily  planing  a  board. 

"  Wai',  now,  —  if  this  'ere  don't  beat  all !  "  he  said,  look 
ing  up  and  seeing  her  ;  "  why,  you  're  looking  after  Sally,  I 
s'pose  ?  She  's  up  to  the  house." 

"  No,  Captain  Kittridge,  I  'm  come  to  see  you" 

"  You  be  ?  "  said  the  Captain,  "  I  swow  !  if  I  a'n't  a  lucky 
feller.  But  what 's  the  matter  ?  "  he  said,  suddenly  observ 
ing  her  pale  face,  and  the  tears  in  her  eyes.  "  Ha'  n't 
nothin'  bad  happened,  —  hes  there  ?  " 

"Oh!  Captain  Kittridge,  something  dreadful;  and  nobody 
but  you  can  help  me." 

"  Want  to  know  now  ?  "  said  the  Captain,  with  a  grave 
face.  "  Well,  come  here  now  and  sit  down,  and  tell  me  all 
about  it.  Don't  you  cry,  there  's  a  good  girl !  Don't  now." 

Mara  began  her  story,  and  went  through  with  it  in  a 
rapid  and  agitated  manner ;  and  the  good  Captain  listened 
in  a  fidgety  state  of  interest,  occasionally  relieving  his  mind 
by  interjecting  "  Do  tell  now  !  "  "I  swan,  —  if  that  ar 
a'n't  too  bad." 

"  That  ar  's  rediculous  conduct  in  Atkinson.  He  ought  to 
be  talked  to,"  said  the  Captain  when  she  had  finished,  and 
then  he  whistled  and  put  a  shaving  in  his  mouth,  which  he 
chewed  reflectively. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  227 

"  Don't  you  be  a  mite  worried,  Mara,"  he  said.  "  You 
did  a  great  deal  better  to  come  to  me  than  to  go  to  Mr. 
Sewell  or  your  grand'ther  either ;  'cause  you  see  these  'ere 
wild  chaps  they  '11  take  things  from  me  they  would  n't  from 
a  church-member  or  a  minister.  Folks  must  n't  pull  'em  up 
with  too  short  a  rein,  —  they  must  kind  o'  flatter  'em  off. 
But  that  ar  Atkinson  's  too  rediculous  for  anything  ;  and  if 
he  don't  mind,  I  '11  serve  him  out.  I  know  a  thing  or  two 
about  him  that  I  shall  shake  over  his  head  if  he  don't  be 
have.  Now  I  don't  think  so  much  of  smugglin'  as  some 
folks,"  said  the  Captain,  lowering  his  voice  to  a  confidential 
tone.  "  I  reely  don't,  now ;  but  come  to  goin'  off  piratin', 
—  and  tryin'  to  put  a  young  boy  up  to  robbin'  his  best 
friends,  —  why,  there  a'n't  no  kind  o'  sense  in  that.  It 's 
p'ison  mean  of  Atkinson.  I  shall  tell  him  so,  and  I  shall 
talk  to  Moses." 

"  Oh  !  I  'm  afraid  to  have  you,"  said  Mara,  apprehensively. 

"  Why,  chickabiddy,"  said  the  old  Captain,  "  you  don't 
understand  me.  I  a'n't  goin'  at  him  with  no  sermons,  —  I 
shall  jest  talk  to  him  this  way  :  Look  here  now,  Moses,  I 
shall  say,  there  's  Badger's  ship  goin'  to  sail  in  a  fortnight 
for  China,  and  they  want  likely  fellers  aboard,  and  I  've  got 
a  hundred  dollars  that  I  'd  like  to  send  on  a  venture  ;  if 
you  '11  take  it  and  go,  why,  we  '11  share  the  profits.  I  shall 
talk  like  that,  you  know.  Mebbe  I  sha'  n't  let  him  know 
what  I  know,  and  mebbe  I  shall ;  jest  tip  him  a  wink,  you 
know  ;  it  depends  on  circumstances.  But  bless  you,  child, 
these  'ere  fellers  a'n't  none  of  'em  'fraid  o'  me,  you  see, 
'cause  they  know  I  know  the  ropes." 

"  And  can  you  make  that  horrid  man  let  him  alone  ? " 
said  Mara,  fearfully. 

"  Calculate  I  can.     'Spect  if  I 's  to  tell  Atkinson  a  few 


228  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

things  I  know,  he  'd  be  for  bein'  scase  in  our  parts.  Now, 
you  see,  I  ha'  n't  minded  doin'  a  small  bit  o'  trade  now  and 
then  with  them  ar  fellers  myself;  but  this  'ere,"  said  the 
Captain,  stopping  and  looking  extremely  disgusted,  "  why, 
it  's  contemptible,  it  's  rediculous  !*' 

"  Do  you  think  I  'd  better  tell  grandpapa  ?  "  said  Mara. 

"  Don't  worry  your  little  head.  I  '11  step  up  and  have  a 
talk  with  Pennel  this  evening.  He  knows  as  well  as  I  that 
there  is  times  when  chaps  must  be  seen  to,  and  no  remarks 
made.  Pennel  knows  that  ar.  Why,  now,  Mis'  Kittridge 
thinks  our  boys  turned  out  so  well  all  along  of  her  bringin' 
up,  and  I  let  her  think  so  ;  keeps  her  sort  o'  in  spirits,  you 
see.  But  Lord  bless  ye,  child,  there 's  been  times  with 
Job,  and  Sam,  and  Pass,  and  Dass,  and  Dile,  and  all  on  'em 
finally,  when,  if  I  had  n't  jest  pulled  a  rope  here  and  turned 
a  screw  there,  and  said  nothin'  to  nobody,  they  'd  a-been  all 
gone  to  smash.  I  never  told  Mis'  Kittridge  none  o'  their 
didos  ;  bless  you,  't  would  n't  been  o'  no  use.  I  never  told 
them,  neither ;  but  I  jest  kind  o'  worked  'em  off,  you  know ; 
and  they 's  all  putty  'spectable  men  now,  as  men  go,  you 
know ;  not  like  Parson  Sewell,  but  good,  honest  mates  and 
ship-masters,  —  kind  o'  middlin'  people,  you  know.  It  takes 
a  good  many  o'  sich  to  make  up  a  world,  d'  ye  see." 

"  But  oh,  Captain  Kittridge,  did  any  of  them  use  to 
swear?"  said  Mara,  in  a  faltering  voice. 

"  Wai',  they  did  consid'able,"  said  the  Captain ;  —  then 
seeing  the  trembling  of  Mara's  lip,  he  added,  — 

"  Ef  you  could  a-found  this  'ere  out  any  other  way,  it 's 
most  a  pity  you  'd  a-heard  him  ;  'cause  he  would  n't  never 
have  let  out  afore  you.  It  don't  do  for  gals  to  hear  the 
fellers  talk  when  they  's  alone,  'cause  fellers,  —  wal',  you 
see,  fellers  will  be  fellers,  partic'larly  when  they  V  young. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  229 

Some   on   'em,   they   never    gits    over    it    all    their    lives 
finally." 

"  But  oh !  Captain  Kittridge,  that  talk  last  night  was  so 
dreadfully  wicked  !  and  Moses  !  —  oh,  it  was  dreadful  to 
hear  him  !  " 

"  Wai',  yes,  it  was,"  said  the  Captain,  consolingly  ;  "  but 
don't  you  cry  and  don't  you  break  your  little  heart.  I  ex 
pect  he  '11  come  all  right,  and  jine  the  church  one  of  these 
days  ;  'cause  there  's  old  Fennel,  he  prays,  —  fact  now,  I 
think  there  's  consicTable  in  some  people's  prayers,  and  he  's 
one  of  the  sort.  And  you  pray,  too ;  and  I  'm  quite  sure 
the  good  Lord  must  hear  you.  I  declare  sometimes  I  wish 
you  'd  jest  say  a  good  word  to  Him  for  me ;  I  should  like 
to  get  the  hang  o'  things  a  little  better  than  I  do  somehow, 
I  reely  should.  I  've  gi'n  up  swearing  years  ago.  Mis' 
Kittridge,  she  broke  me  o'  that,  and  now  I  don't  never  go 
further  than  (  I  vum'  or  'I  swow,'  or  somethin'  o'  that  sort; 
but  you  see  I  'm  old  ;  —  Moses  is  young  ;  but  then  he  's  got 
eddication  and  friends,  and  he  '11  come  all  right.  Now  you 
jest  see  ef  he  don't ! "  . 

This  miscellaneous  budget  of  personal  experiences  and 
friendly  consolation  which  the  good  Captain  conveyed  to 
Mara  may  possibly  make  you  laugh,  my  reader,  but  the 
good,  ropy  brown  man  was  doing  his  best  to  console  his 
little  friend;  and  as  Mara  looked  at  him  he  was  almost 
glorified  in  her  eyes  —  he  had  power  to  save  Moses,  and 
he  would  do  it. 

She  went  home  to  dinner  that  day  with  her  heart  con 
siderably  lightened.  She  refrained,  in  a  guilty  way,  from 
even  looking  at  Moses,  who  was  gloomy  and  moody. 

Mara  had  from  nature  a  good  endowment  of  that  kind  of 
innocent  hypocrisy  which  is  needed  as  a  staple  in  the  lives  i 


230  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

of  women  who  bridge  a  thousand  awful  chasms  with  smiling, 
unconscious  looks,  and  walk,  singing  and  scattering  flowers, 
over  abysses  of  fear,  while  their  hearts  are  dying  within 
them. 

She  talked  more  volubly  than  was  her  wont  with  Mrs. 
Fennel,  and  with  her  old  grandfather ;  she  laughed  and 
seemed  in  more  than  usual  spirits,  and  only  once  did  she 
look  up  and  catch  the  gloomy  eye  of  Moses.  It  had  that 
murky,  troubled  look  that  one  may  see  in  the  eye  of  a  boy 
when  those  evil  waters  which  cast  up  mire  and  dirt  have 
Pdnce  been  stirred  in  his  soul.  They  fell  under  her  clear 
glance,  and  he  made  a  rapid,  impatient  movement,  as  if 
it  hurt  him  to  be  looked  at.  The  evil  spirit  in  boy  or  man 
cannot  bear  the  "  touch  of  celestial  temper ; "  and  the  sen 
sitiveness  to  eyebeams  is  one  of  the  earliest  signs  of  con 
scious,  inward  guilt. 

Mara  was  relieved,  as  he  flung  out  of  the  house  after  din 
ner,  to  see  the  long,  dry  figure  of  Captain  Kittridge  coming 
up  and  seizing  Moses  by  the  button. 

From  the  window  she  saw  the  Captain  assuming  a  con 
fidential  air  with  him  ;  and  when  they  had  talked  together 
a  few  moments,  she  saw  Moses  going  with  great  readiness 
after  him  down  the  road  to  his  house. 

In  less  than  a  fortnight,  it  was  settled  Moses  was  to  sail 
for  China,  and  Mara  was  deep  in  the  preparations  for  his 
outfit.  Once  she  would  have  felt  this  departure  as  the  most 
dreadful  trial  of  her  life.  Now  it  seemed  to  her  a  deliver 
ance  for  him,  and  she  worked  with  a  cheerful  alacrity,  which 
seemed  to  Moses  was  more  than  was  proper,  considering  he 
was  going  away. 

For  Moses,  like  many  others  of  his  sex,  boy  or  man,  had 
quietly  settled  in  his  own  mind  that  the  whole  love  of 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  231 

Mara's  heart  was  to  be  his,  to  have  and  to  hold,  to  use  and 
to  draw  on,  when  and  as  he  liked.  He  reckoned  on  it  as  a 
sort  of  inexhaustible,  uncounted  treasure  that  was  his  own 
peculiar  right  and  property,  and  therefore  he  felt  abused  at 
what  he  supposed  was  a  disclosure  of  some  deficiency  on  her 
part. 

"  You  seem  to  be  very  glad  to  be  rid  of  me,"  he  said  to 
her  in  a  bitter  tone  one  day,  as  she  was  earnestly  busy  in 
her  preparations. 

Now  the  fact  was,  that  Moses  had  been  assiduously  mak 
ing  himself  disagreeable  to  Mara  for  the  fortnight  past,  by 
all  sorts  of  unkind  sayings  and  doings ;  and  he  knew  it  too  ; 
yet  he  felt  a  right  to  feel  very  much  abused  at  the  thought 
that  she  could  possibly  want  him  to  be  going. 

If  she  had  been  utterly  desolate  about  it,  and  torn  her 
hair  and  sobbed  and  wailed,  he  would  have  asked  what  she 
could  be  crying  about,  and  begged  not  to  be  bored  with 
scenes;  but  as  it  was,  this  cheerful  composure  was  quite 
unfeeling. 

Now  pray  don't  suppose  Moses  to  be  a  monster  of  an  un 
common  species.  We  take  him  to  be  an  average  specimen 
of  a  boy  of  a  certain  kind  of  temperament  in  the  transition 
period  of  life.  Everything  is  chaos  within  —  the  flesh 
lusteth  against  the  spirit,  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh, 
and  "light  and  darkness,  and  mind  and  dust,  and  passion 
and  pure  thoughts,  mingle  and  contend,"  without  end  or 
order. 

He  wondered  at  himself  sometimes  that  he  could  say 
such  cruel  things  as  he  did  to  his  faithful  little  friend  — 
to  one  whom,  after  all,  he  did  love  and  trust  before  all  other 
human  beings. 

There  is  no  saying  why  it  is  that  a  man  or  a  boy,  not 


232  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

radically  destitute  of  generous  comprehensions,  will  often 
cruelly  torture  and  tyrannize  over  a  woman  whom  he 
both  loves  and  reveres  —  who  stands  in  his  soul  in  his 
best  hours  as  the  very  impersonation  of  all  that  is  good 
and  beautiful. 

It  is  as  if  some  evil  spirit  at  times  possessed  him,  and 
compelled  him  to  utter  words  which  were  felt  at  the  mo 
ment  to  be  mean  and  hateful. 

Moses  often  wondered  at  himself,  as  he  lay  awake  nights, 
how  he  could  have  said  and  done  the  things  he  had,  and  felt 
miserably  resolved  to  make  it  up  somehow  before  he  went 
away  —  but  he  did  not. 

He  could  not  say,  "  Mara,  I  have  done  wrong,"  though  he 
every  day  meant  to  do  it,  and  sometimes  sat  an  hour  in  her 
presence,  feeling  murky  and  stony,  as  if  possessed  by  a 
dumb  spirit  —  then  he  would  get  up  and  fling  stormily 
out  of  the  house. 

Poor  Mara  wondered  if  he  really  would  go  without  one 
kind  word.  She  thought  of  all  the  years  they  had  been  to 
gether,  and  how  he  had  been  her  only  thought  and  love. 

What  had  become  of  her  brother  ?  —  the  Moses  that  once 
she  used  to  know  —  frank,  careless,  not  ill  tempered,  and 
who  sometimes  seemed  to  love  her  and  think  she  was  the 
best  little  girl  in  the  world  ?  Where  was  he  gone  to  —  this 
friend  and  brother  of  her  childhood,  and  would  he  never 
come  back  ? 

At  last  came  the  evening  before  his  parting ;  the  sea-chest 
was  all  made  up  and  packed  ;  and  Mara's  fingers  had  been 
busy  with  everything,  from  more  substantial  garments  down 
to  all  those  little  comforts  and  nameless  conveniences  that 
only  a  woman  knows  how  to  improvise.  Mara  thought  cer 
tainly  she  should  get  a  few  kind  words  as  Moses  looked  it 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  233 

over.  But  he  only  said,  "  All  right ;  "  and  then  added  that 
"  there  was  a  button  off  one  of  the  shirts."  Mara's  busy 
fingers  quickly  replaced  it,  and  Moses  was  annoyed  at  the 
tear  that  fell  on  the  button.  What  was  she  crying  for  now  ? 
He  knew  very  well,  but  he  felt  stubborn  and  cruel.  After 
wards  he  lay  awake  many  a  night  in  his  berth,  and  acted 
this  last  scene  over  differently.  He  took  Mara  in  his  arms 
and  kissed  her ;  he  told  her  she  was  his  best  friend,  his  good 
angel,  and  that  he  was  not  worthy  to  kiss  the  hem  of  her 
garment ;  but  the  next  day,  when  he  thought  of  writing  a 
letter  to  her,  he  did  n't,  and  the  good  mood  passed  away. 

Boys  do  not  acquire  an  ease  of  expression  in  letter-writ 
ing  as  early  as  girls,  and  a  voyage  to  China  furnished  oppor 
tunities  few  and  far  between  of  sending  letters. 

Now  and  then,  through  some  sailing  ship,  came  missives 
which  seemed  to  Mara  altogether  colder  and  more  unsatis 
factory  than  they  would  have  done  could  she  have  appre 
ciated  the  difference  between  a  boy  and  a  girl  in  power  of 
epistolary  expression  ;  for  the  power  of  really  representing 
one's  heart  on  paper,  which  is  one  of  the  first  spring  flowers 
of  early  womanhood,  is  the  latest  blossom  on  the  slow  grow 
ing  tree  of  manhood.  To  do  Moses  justice,  these  seeming 
cold  letters  were  often  written  with  a  choking  lump  in  his 
throat,  caused  by  thinking  over  his  many  sins  against  his 
little  good  angel;  but  then  that  past  account  was  so  long, 
and  had  so  much  that  it  pained  him  to  think  of,  that  he 
dashed  it  all  off  in  the  shortest  fashion,  and  said  to  himself, 
"  One  of  these  days  when  I  see  her  I  '11  make  it  all  up." 

No  man  —  especially  one  that  is  living  a  rough,  busy,  out- 
of-doors  life  —  can  form  the  slightest  conception  of  that 
veiled  and  secluded  life  which  exists  in  the  heart  of  a  sensi 
tive  woman,  whose  sphere  is  narrow,  whose  external  diver- 


I 


234  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

sions  are  few,  and  whose  mind,  therefore,  acts  by  a  continual 
introversion  upon  itself.  They  know  nothing  how  their 
careless  words  and  actions  are  pondered  and  turned  again  in 
weary,  quiet  hours  of  fruitless  questioning.  What  did  he 
mean  by  this  ?  and  what  did  he  intend  by  that  ?  —  while  he, 
the  careless  buffalo,  meant  nothing,  or  has  forgotten  what  it 
was,  if  he  did. 

Man's  utter  ignorance  of  woman's  nature  is  a  cause  of  a 
great  deal  of  unsuspected  cruelty  which  he  practises  toward 
h^rT^ 

Mara  found  one  or  two  opportunities  of  writing  to  Moses ; 
but  her  letters  were  timid  and  constrained  by  a  sort  of  frosty, 
discouraged  sense  of  loneliness ;  and  Moses,  though  he  knew 
he  had  no  earthly  right  to  expect  this  to  be  otherwise,  took 
upon  him  to  feel  as  an  abused  individual,  whom  nobody 
loved  —  whose  way  in  the  world  was  destined  to  be  lonely 
and  desolate.  So  when,  at  the  end  of  three  years,  he  arrived 
suddenly  at  Brunswick  in  the  beginning  of  winter,  and  came 
all  burning  with  impatience  to  the  home  at  Orr's  Island,  and 
found  that  Mara  had  gone  to  Boston  on  a  visit,  he  resented 
it  as  a  personal  slight. 

He  might  have  inquired  why  she  should  expect  him,  and 
whether  her  whole  life  was  to  be  spent  in  looking  out  of  the 
window  to  watch  for  him.  He  might  have  remembered  that 
he  had  warned  her  of  his  approach  by  no  letter.  But  no. 
"  Mara  did  n't  care  for  him  —  she  had  forgotten  all  about 
him  —  she  was  having  a  good  time  in  Boston,  just  as  likely 
as  not  with  some  train  of  admirers,  and  he  had  been  tossing 
on  the  stormy  ocean,  and  she  had  thought  nothing  of  it." 

How  many  things  he  had  meant  to  say !  He  had  never 
felt  so  good  and  so  affectionate.  He  would  have  confessed 
all  the  sins  of  his  life  to  her,  and  asked  her  pardon  —  and 
she  was  n't  there  ! 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  235 

Mrs.  Fennel  suggested  that  he  might  go  to  Boston  after 
her. 

No,  he  was  not  going  to  do  that.  He  would  not  intrude 
on  her  pleasures  with  the  memory  of  a  rough,  hard-working 
sailor.  He  was  alone  in  the  world,  and  had  his  own  way  to 
make,  and  so  best  go  at  once  up  among  lumbermen,  and  cut 
the  timber  for  the  ship  that  was  to  carry  Ca3sar  and  his 
fortunes. 

When  Mara  was  informed  by  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Fennel, 
expressed  in  the  few  brief  words  in  which  that  good  woman 
generally  embodied  her  epistolary  communications,  that  Mo 
ses  had  been  at  home,  and  gone  to  Umbagog  without  seeing 
her,  she  felt  at  her  heart  only  a  little  closer  stricture  of  a 
cold  quiet  pain,  which  had  become  a  habit  of  her  inner  life. 

"  He  did  not  love  her  —  he  was  cold  and  selfish,"  said 
the  inner  voice.  And  faintly  she  pleaded,  in  answer,  "  He 
is  a  man  —  he  has  seen  the  world  —  and  has  so  much  to  do 
and  think  of,  no  wonder." 

In  fact,  during  the  last  three  years  that  had  parted  them, 
the  great  change  of  life  had  been  consummated  in  both. 
They  had  parted  boy  and  girl ;  they  would  meet  man  and 
woman.  The  time  of  this  meeting  had  been  announced. 

And  all  this  is  the  history  of  that  sigh  —  so  very  quiet 
that  Sally  Kittridge  never  checked  the  rattling  flow  of  her 
conversation  to  observe  it. 


236  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

WE  have  in  the  last  three  chapters  brought  up  the  history 
of  our  characters  to  the  time  when  our  story  opens,  when 
Mara  and  Sally  Kittridge  were  discussing  the  expected  re 
turn  of  Moses. 

Sally  was  persuaded  by  Mara  to  stay  and  spend  the  night 
with  her,  and  did  so  without  much  fear  of  what  her  mother 
would  say  when  she  returned  ;  for  though  Mrs.  Kittridge 
still  made  bustling  demonstrations  of  authority,  it  was  quite 
evident  to  every  one  that  the  handsome  grown-up  girl  had 
got  the  sceptre  into  her  own  hands,  and  was  reigning  in  the 
full  confidence  of  being,  in  one  way  or  another,  able  to  bring 
her  mother  into  all  her  views. 

So  Sally  stayed  —  to  have  one  of  those  long  night-talks  in 
which  girls  delight,  in  the  course  of  which  all  sorts  of  inti 
macies  and  confidences,  that  shun  the  daylight,  open  like  the 
night-blooming  cereus  in  strange  successions. 

One  often  wonders  by  daylight  at  the  things  one  says 
very  naturally  in  the  dark. 

So  the  two  girls  talked  about  Moses,  and  Sally  dilated 
upon  his  handsome,  manly  air  the  one  Sunday  that  he  had 
appeared  in  Harpswell  meeting-house. 

"  He  did  n't  know  me  at  all,  if  you  '11  believe  it,"  said 
Sally.  "  I  was  standing  with  father  when  he  came  out,  and 
he  shook  hands  with  him,  and  looked  at  me  as  if  I  'd  been 
an  entire  stranger." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  237 

"  I  'm  not  in  the  least  surprised,"  said  Mara ;  "  you  're 
grown  so  and  altered." 

"  Well,  now,  you  'd  hardly  know  him,  Mara,"  said  Sally. 
"  He  is  a  man  —  a  real  man ;  everything  about  him  is  dif 
ferent  ;  he  holds  up  his  head  in  such  a  proud  way.  Well, 
he  always  did  that  when  he  was  a  boy  ;  but  when  he  speaks, 
he  has  such  a  deep  voice  !  How  boys  do  alter  in  a  year  or 
two !  " 

"  Do  you  think  I  have  altered  much,  Sally  ?  "  said  Mara  ; 
"  at  least,  do  you  think  he  would  think  so  ?  " 

"  Why,  Mara,  you  and  I  have  been  together  so  much,  I 
can't  tell.  We  don't  notice  what  goes  on  before  us  every 
day.  I  really  should  like  to  see  what  Moses  Fennel  will 
think  when  he  sees  you.  At  any  rate,  he  can't  order  you 
about  with  such  a  grand  air  as  he  used  to  when  you  were 
younger." 

"  I  think  sometimes  he  has  quite  forgotten  about  me,"  said 
Mara. 

"  Well,  if  I  were  you,  I  should  put  him  in  mind  of  my 
self  by  one  or  two  little  ways,"  said  Sally.  "  I  'd  plague 
him  and  tease  him.  I  'd  lead  him  such  a  life  that  he  could 
n't  forget  me,  —  that 's  what  I  would." 

"  I  don't  doubt  you  would,  Sally  ;  and  he  might  like  you 
all  the  better  for  it.  But  you  know  that  sort  of  thing  is  n't 
my  way.  People  must  act  in  character." 

"  Do  you  know,  Mara/'  said  Sally,  "  I  always  thought 
Moses  was  hateful  in  his  treatment  of  you  ?  Now  I  'd  no 
more  marry  that  fellow  than  I  'd  walk  into  the  fire  ;  but  it 
would  b6  a  just  punishment  for  his  sins  to  have  to  marry 
me  !  Would  n't  I  serve  him  out,  though  !  " 

With  which  threat  of  vengeance  on  her  mind  Sally  Kit- 
tridge  fell  asleep,  while  Mara  lay  awake  pondering,  —  won- 


238  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND. 

dering  if  Moses  would  come  to-morrow,  and  what  he  would 
be  like  if  he  did  come. 

The  next  morning,  as  the  two  girls  were  wiping  breakfast 
dishes  in  a  room  adjoining  the  kitchen,  a  step  was  heard  on 
the  kitchen-floor,  and  the  first  that  Mara  knew  she  found 
herself  lifted  from  the  floor  in  the  arms  of  a  tall  dark-eyed 
young  man,  who  was  kissing  her  just  as  if  he  had  a  right  to. 
She  knew  it  must  be  Moses,  but  it  seemed  strange  as  a 
dream,  for  all  she  had  tried  to  imagine  it  beforehand. 

He  j  kissed  her  over  and  over,  and  then  holding  her  off  at 
arm's  length,  said,  "Why,  Mara,  you  have  grown  to  be  a 
beauty ! " 

"  And  what  was  she,  I  'd  like  to  know,  when  you  went 
away,  Mr.  Moses  ?  "  said  Sally,  who  could  not  long  keep  out 
of  a  conversation.  "  She  was  handsome  when  you  were 
only  a  great  ugly  boy." 

"  Thank  you,  Miss  Sally ! "  said  Moses,  making  a  profound 
bow. 

"  Thank  me  for  what  ?  "  said  Sally,  with  a  toss. 

"  For  your  intimation  that  I  am  a  handsome  young  man 
now,"  said  Moses,  sitting  with  his  arm  around  Mara,  and  her 
hand  in  his. 

And  in  truth  he  was  as  handsome  now  for  a  man  as  he 
was  in  the  promise  of  his  early  childhood. 

All  the  oafishness  and  surly  awkwardness  of  the  half-boy 
period  was  gone.  His  great  black  eyes  were  clear  and  con 
fident  :  his  dark  hair  clustering  in  short  curls  round  his  well- 
shaped  head ;  his  black  lashes,  and  fine  form,  and  a  certain 
confident  ease  of  manner,  set  him  off  to  the  greatest  advan 
tage. 

Mara  felt  a  peculiar  dreamy  sense  of  strangeness  at  this 
brother  who  was  not  a  brother,  —  this  Moses  so  different 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  239 

from  the  one  she  had  known.  The  very  tone  of  his  voice, 
which  when  he  left  had  the  uncertain  cracked  notes  which 
indicate  the  unformed  man,  were  now  mellowed  and  settled.  .  . 

Mara  regarded  him  shyly  as  he  talked,  blushed  uneasily, 
and  drew  away  from  his  arm  around  her,  as  if  this  hand 
some,  self-confident  young  man  were  being  too  familiar.  In 
fact,  she  made  apology  to  go  out  into  the  other  room  to  call 
Mrs.  Fennel. 

Moses  looked  after  her  as  she  went  with  admiration. 

"  What  a  little  woman  she  has  grown  !  "  he  said,  naively. 

"  And  what  did  you  expect  she  would  grow  ?  "  said  Sally. 
"  You  did  n't  expect  to  find  her  a  girl  in  short  clothes,  did 
you  ?  " 

"  Not  exactly,  Miss  Sally,"  said  Moses,  turning  his  atten 
tion  to  her ;  "  and  some  other  people  are  changed  too." 

"  Like  enough,"  said  Sally,  carelessly.  "  I  should  think 
so,  since  somebody  never  spoke  a  word  to  one  the  Sunday 
he  was  at  meeting." 

"  Oh,  you  remember  that,  do  you  ?     On  my  word,  Sal- 

iy"- 

"  Miss  Kittridge,  if  you  please,  sir,"  said  Sally,  turning 
round  with  the  air  of  an  empress. 

"  Well,  then,  Miss  Kittridge,"  said  Moses,  making  a  bow  ; 
"  now  let  me  finish  my  sentence.  I  never  dreamed  who  you 
were." 

"  Complimentary,"  said  Sally,  pouting. 

"  Well,  hear  me  through,"  said  Moses  ;  "  you  had  grown 
so  handsome,  Miss  Kittridge." 

"  Oh !  that  indeed  !  I  suppose  you  mean  to  say  I  was  a 
fright  when  you  left  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all  —  not  at  all,"  said  Moses  ;  "  but  handsome 
things  may  grow  handsomer,  you  know." 


240  THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

"  I  don't  like  flattery,"  said  Sally. 

"  I  never  flatter,  Miss  Kittridge,"  said  Moses. 

Our  young  gentleman  and  young  lady  of  Orr's  Island 
went  through  with  this  customary  little  lie  of  civilized  so 
ciety  with  as  much  gravity  as  if  they  were  practising  in  the 
court  of  Versailles,  —  she  looking  out  from  the  corner  of 
her  eye  to  watch  the  effect  of  her  words,  and  he  laying  his 
hand  on  his  heart  in  the  most  edifying  gravity.  They  per 
fectly  understood  one  another. 

But,  says  the  reader,  seems  to  me  Sally  Kittridge  does 
all  the  talking  !  So  she  does,  —  so  she  always  will,  —  for  it 
is  her  nature  to  be  bright,  noisy,  and  restless  ;  and  one  of 
these  girls  always  overcrows  a  timid  and  thoughtful  one, 
and  makes  her,  for  the  time,  seem  dim  and  faded,  as  does 
rose  color  when  put  beside  scarlet. 

Sally  was  a  born  coquette.  It  was  as  natural  for  her  to 
want  to  flirt  with  every  man  she  saw,  as  for  a  kitten  to 
scamper  after  a  pin-ball.  Does  the  kitten  care  a  fig  for  the 
pin-ball,  or  the  dry  leaves,  which  she  whisks,  and  frisks,  and 
boxes,  and  pats,  and  races  round  and  round  after  ?  No ;  it 's 
nothing  but  kittenhood ;  every  hair  of  her  fur  is  alive  with 
it.  Her  sleepy  green  eyes,  when  she  pretends  to  be  dozing, 
are  full  of  it ;  and  though  she  looks  wise  a  moment,  and 
seems  resolved  to  be  a  discreet  young  cat,  let  but  a  leaf 
sway  —  off  she  goes  again,  with  a  frisk  and  a  rap.  So, 
though  Sally  had  scolded  and  flounced  about  Moses'  inat 
tention  to  Mara  in  advance,  she  contrived  even  in  this  first 
interview  to  keep  him  talking  with  nobody  but  herself;  — 
not  because  she  wanted  to  draw  him  from  Mara,  or  meant 
to;  not  because  she  cared  a  pin  for  him;  but  because  it 
was  her  nature  as  a  frisky  young  cat. 

And  Moses  let  himself  be  drawn,  between  bantering  and 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  241 

contradicting,  and  jest  and  earnest,  at  some  moments  almost 
to  forget  that  Mara  was  in  the  room. 

She  took  her  sewing  and  sat  with  a  pleased  smile,  some 
times  breaking  into  the  lively  flow  of  conversation,  or 
eagerly  appealed  to  by  both  parties  to  settle  some  rising 
quarrel. 

Once,  as  they  were  talking,  Moses  looked  up  and  saw 
Mara's  head,  as  a  stray  sunbeam  falling  upon  the  golden  hair 
seemed  to  make  a  halo  around  her  face. 

Her  large  eyes  were  fixed  upon  him  with  an  expression 
so  intense  and  penetrative,  that  he  felt  a  sort  of  wincing  un 
easiness. 

"  What  makes  you  look  at  me  so,  Mara  ?  "  he  said,  sud 
denly. 

A  bright  flush  came  in  her  cheek  as  she  answered,  "I 
did  n't  know  I  was  looking.  It  all  seems  so  strange  to  me. 
I  am  trying  to  make  out  who  and  what  you  are." 

"  It 's  not  best  to  look  too  deep,"  Moses  said,  laughing, 
but  with  a  slight  shade  of  uneasiness. 

When  Sally,  late  in  the  afternoon,  declared  that  she  must 
go  home,  she  could  n't  stay  another  minute,  Moses  rose  to  go 
with  her. 

"  What  are  you  getting  up  for  ?  "  she  said  to  Moses,  as  he 
took  his  hat. 

"  To  go  home  with  you,  to  be  sure." 

"  Nobody  asked  you  to,"  said  Sally. 

"  I  'm  accustomed  to  asking  myself,"  said  Moses. 

"  Well,  I  suppose  I  must  have  you  along,"  said  Sally. 
"  Father  will  be  glad  to  see  you,  of  course." 

"  You  '11  be  back  to  tea,  Moses,"  said  Mara,  "  will 
you  not?  Grandfather  will  be  home,  and  want  to  see 
you." 

11 


242  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

"  Oh,  I  shall  be  right  back,"  said  Moses,  "  I  have  a  little 
business  to  settle  with  Captain  Kittridge." 

But  Moses,  however,  did  stay  at  tea  with  Mrs.  Kittridge, 
who  looked  graciously  at  him  through  the  bows  of  her  black 
horn  spectacles,  having  heard  her  liege  lord  observe  that 
Moses  was  a  smart  chap,  and  had  done  pretty  well  in  a 
money  way. 

How  came  he  to  stay  ?  Sally  told  him  every  other  min 
ute  to  go  ;  and  then  when  he  had  got  fairly  out  of  the  door, 
called  him  back  to  tell  him  that  there  was  something  she  had 
heard  about  him. 

And  Moses  of  course  came  back ;  wanted  to  know  what  it 
was ;  and  could  n't  be  told,  it  was  a  secret ;  and  then  he 
would  be  ordered  off,  and  reminded  that  he  promised  to  go 
straight  home  ;  and  then  when  he  got  a  little  farther  off  she 
called  after  him  a  second  time,  to  tell  him  that  he  would  be 
very  much  surprised  if  he  knew  how  she  found  it  out,  etc., 
etc.,  —  till  at  last  tea  being  ready,  there  was  no  reason  why 
he  shouldn't  have  a  cup.  And  so  it  was  sober  moonrise 
before  Moses  found  himself  going  home. 

"  Hang  that  girl!"  he  said  to  himself;  "don't  she  know 
what  she  's  about,  though  ?  " 

There  our  hero  was  mistaken.  Sally  never  did  know 
what  she  was  about,  —  had  no  plan  or  purpose  more  than  a 
blackbird  ;  and  when  Moses  was  gone  laughed  to  think  how 
many  times  she  had  made  him  come  back. 

"  Now,  confound  it  all,"  said  Moses,  "  I  care  more  for  our 
little  Mara  than  a  dozen  of  her ;  and  what  have  I  been  fool 
ing  all  this  time  for  ?  —  now  Mara  will  think  I  don't  love 
her." 

And,  in  fact,  our  young  gentleman  rather  set  his  heart  on 
the  sensation  he  was  going  to  make  when  he  got  home. 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S  ISLAND.  243 

It  is  flattering,  after  all,  to  feel  one's  power  over  a  suscep 
tible  nature ;  and  Moses,  remembering  how  entirely  and 
devotedly  Mara  had  loved  him  all  through  childhood,  never 
doubted  but  he  was  the  sole  possessor  of  uncounted  treasure 
in  her  heart,  which  he  could  develop  at  his  leisure  and  use 
as  he  pleased. 

He  did  not  calculate  for  one  force  which  had  grown  up  in 
the  mean  while  between  them,  —  and  that  was  the  power  of 
womanhood.  He  did  not  know  the  intensity  of  that  kind 
of  pride,  which  is  the  very  life  of  the  female  nature,  and 
which  is  most  vivid  and  vigorous  in  the  most  timid  and 
retiring. 

Our  little  Mara  was  tender,  self-devoting,  humble,  and 
religious,  but  she  was  woman  after  all  to  the  tips  of  her 
fingers,  —  o1uick  to  feel  slights,  and  determined,  with  the 
intensest  determination,  that  no  man  should  wrest  from  her 
one  of  those  few  humble  rights  and  privileges,  which  Nature 
allows  to  woman. 

Something  swelled  and  trembled  in  her  when  she  felt  the 
confident  pressure  of  that  bold  arm  around  her  waist,  —  like 
the  instinct  of  a  wild  bird  to  fly.  !  Something  in  the  deep, 
manly  voice,  the  determined,  self-confident  air,  aroused  a 
vague  feeling  of  defiance  and  resistance  in  her  which  she 
could  scarcely  explain  to  herself.  |  Was  he  to  assume  a  right 
to  her  in  this  way  without  even  asking  ?  When  he  did  not 
come  to  tea  nor  long  after,  and  Mrs.  Pennel  and  her  grand 
father  wondered,  she  laughed,  and  said  gayly,  — 

"  Oh,  he  knows  he  '11  have  time  enough  to  see  me.  Sally 
seems  more  like  a  stranger." 

But  when  Moses  came  home  after  moonrise,  determined 
to  go  and  console  Mara  for  his  absence,  he  was  surprised  to 
hear  the  sound  of  a  rapid  and  pleasant  conversation,  in 


244  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

which  a  masculine  and  feminine  voice  were  intermingled  in 
a  lively  duet. 

Corning  a  little  nearer,  he  saw  Mara  sitting  knitting  in 
the  door-way,  and  a  very  good-looking  young  man  seated  on 
a  stone  at  her  feet,  with  his  straw  hat  flung  on  the  ground, 
while  he  was  looking  up  into  her  face,  as  young  men  often 
do  into  pretty  faces  seen  by  moonlight.  Mara  rose  and  in 
troduced  Mr.  Adams  of  Boston  to  Mr.  Moses  Fennel. 

Moses  measured  the  young  man  with  his  eye  as  if  he 
could  have  shot  him  with  a  good  will.  And  his  temper  was 
not  at  all  bettered  as  he  observed  that  he  had  the  easy  air  of 
a  man  of  fashion  and  culture,  and  learned  by  a  few  moments 
of  the  succeeding  conversation,  that  the  acquaintance  had 
commenced  during  Mara's  winter  visit  to  Boston. 

"  I  was  staying  a  day  or  two  at  Mr.  Sewell's,"  he  said, 
carelessly,  "  and  the  night  was  so  fine  I  could  n't  resist  the 
temptation  to  row  over." 

It  was  now  Moses'  turn  to  listen  to  a  conversation  in 
which  he  could  bear  little  part,  it  being  about  persons  and 
places  and  things  unfamiliar  to  him ;  and  though  he  could 
give  no  earthly  reason  why  the  conversation  was  not  the 
most  proper  in  the  world,  —  yet  he  found  that  it  made  him 
angry. 

In  the  pauses,  Mara  inquired,  prettily,  how  he  found  the 
Kittridges,  and  reproved  him  playfully  for  staying,  in  de 
spite  of  his  promise  to  come  home. 

Moses  answered  with  an  effort  to  appear  easy  and  playful, 
that  there  was  no  reason,  it  appeared,  to  hurry  on  her  ac 
count,  since  she  had  been  so  pleasantly  engaged. 

"  That  is  true,"  said  Mara,  quietly  ;  "  but  then  grandpapa 
and  grandmamma  expected  you,  and  they  have  gone  to  bed 
as  you  know  they  always  do  after  tea." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  245 

"  They  '11  keep  till  morning,  I  suppose,"  said  Moses,  rather 
gruffly. 

"  Oh  yes ;  but  then  as  you  had  been  gone  two  or  three 
months,  naturally  they  wanted  to  see  a  little  of  you  at 
first." 

The  stranger  now  joined  in  the  conversation,  and  began 
talking  with  Moses  about  his  experiences  in  foreign  parts, 
in  a  manner  which  showed  a  man  of  sense  and  breeding. 
Moses  had  a  jealous  fear  of  people  of  breeding,  —  an  appre- 
henskuat  lest  they  should  look  down  on  one  whose  life  had 
been  laid  out  of  the  course  of  their  conventional  ideas  ;  and 
therefore,  though  he  had  sufficient  ability  and  vigor  of  mind 
to  acquit  himself  to  advantage  in  this  conversation,  it  gave 
him  all  the  while  a  secret  uneasiness. 

After  a  few  moments,  he  rose  up  moodily,  and  saying  that 
he  was  very  much  fatigued,  he  went  into  the  house  to  retire. 

Mr.  Adams  rose  to  go  also,  and  Moses  might  have  felt  in 
a  more  Christian  frame  of  mind,  had  he  listened  to  the  last 
words  of  the  conversation  between  him  and  Mara. 

"  Do  you  remain  long  in  Harpswell  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  That  depends  on  circumstances,"  he  replied.  "  If  I  do, 
may  I  be  permitted  to  visit  you  ?  " 

"  As  a  friend  —  yes,"  said  Mara ;  "  I  shall  always  be 
happy  to  see  you." 

"  No  more  ?  " 

"  No  more,"  replied  Mara. 

"  I  had  hoped,"  he  said,  "  that  you  would  reconsider." 

"  It  is  impossible,"  said  she ;  and  soft  voices  can  pro 
nounce  that  word,  impossible,  in  a  very  fateful  and  decisive 
manner. 

"  Well,  God  bless  you,  then,  Miss  Lincoln,"  he  said,  and 
was  gone. 


246         THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Mara  stood  in  the  door- way  and  saw  him  loosen  his  boat 
from  its  moorings  and  float  off  in  the  moonlight,  with  a  long 
train  of  silver  sparkles  behind. 

A  moment  after  Moses  was  looking  gloomily  over  her 
shoulder. 

"  Who  is  that  puppy  ?  "  he  said. 

"  He  is  not  a  puppy,  but  a  very  fine  young  man,"  said 
Mara. 

"  Well,  that  very  fine  young  man,  then  ?  " 

"  I  thought  I  told  you.  He  is  a  Mr.  Adams  of  Boston, 
and  a  distant  connection  of  the  Sewells'.  I  met  him  when 
I  was  visiting  at  Judge  Sewell's  in  Boston." 

"  You  seemed  to  be  having  a  very  pleasant  time  to 
gether  ?  " 

"  We  were,"  said  Mara,  quietly. 

"  It 's  a  pity  I  came  home  as  I  did.  I  'm  sorry  I  inter 
rupted  you,"  said  Moses,  with  a  sarcastic  laugh. 

"  You  did  n't  interrupt  us  ;  he  had  been  here  almost  two 
hours." 

Now  Mara  saw  plainly  enough  that  Moses  was  displeased 
and  hurt,  and  had  it  been  in  the  days  of  her  fourteenth  sum 
mer,  she  would  have  thrown  her  arms  around  his  neck,  and 
said,  "Moses,  I  don't  care  a  fig  for  that  man,  and  I  love 
you  better  than  all  the  world."  But  this  the  young  lady  of 
seventeen  would  not  do  ;  so  she  wished  him  good-night  very 
prettily,  and  pretended  not  to  see  anything  about  it. 

Mara  was  as  near  being  a  saint  as  human  dust  ever  is  ; 
I  but  —  she  was  a  woman  saint ;  and  therefore  may  be  ex- 
I  cused  for  a  little  gentle  vindictiveness.  She  was,  in  a  merci 
ful  way,  rather  glad  that  Moses  had  gone  to  bed  dissatisfied, 
and  rather  glad  that  he  did  not  know  what  she  might  have 
told  him  —  quite  resolved  that  he  should  not  know  at  pres- 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  247 

ent.  Was  he  to  know  that  she  liked  nobody  so  much  as 
him  ?  Not  he,  unless  he  loved  her  more  than  all  the  world, 
and  said  so  first. 

Mara  was  resolved  upon  that.  He  might  go  where  he 
liked  —  flirt  with  whom  he  liked  —  come  back  as  late  as  he 
pleased  —  never  would  she,  by  word  or  look,  give  him  reason 
to  think  she  cared. 


248  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

MOSES  passed  rather  a  restless  and  uneasy  night  on  his 
return  to  the  home-roof  which  had  sheltered  his  childhood. 

All  his  life  past,  and  all  his  life  expected,  seemed  to  boil 
and  seethe  and  ferment  in  his  thoughts,  and  to  go  round  and 
round  in  never-ceasing  circles  before  him. 
/  Moses  was  par  excellence  proud,  ambitious,  and  wilful. 
These  words,  generally  supposed  to  describe  positive  vices 
of  the  mind,  in  fact  are  only  the  overaction  of  certain  very 
valuable  portions  of  our  nature,  since  one  can  conceive  all 
three  to  raise  a  man  immensely  in  the  scale  of  moral  being, 
simply  by  being  applied  to  right  objects. 

He  who  is  too  proud  even  to  admit  a  mean  thought  — 
who  is  ambitious  only  of  ideal  excellence  —  who  has  an  in 
flexible  will  only  in  the  pursuit  of  truth  and  righteousness  — 
may  be  a  saint  and  a  hero. 

But  Moses  was  neither  a  saint  nor  a  hero,  but  an  unde 
veloped  chaotic  young  man,  whose  pride  made  him  sensitive 
and  restless  ;  whose  ambition  was  fixed  on  wealth  and  worldly 
success ;  whose  wilfulness  was  for  the  most  part  a  blind  de 
termination  to  compass  his  own  points  with  the  leave  of 
Providence  or  without. 

There  was  no  God  in  his  estimate  of  life  —  and  a  sort  of 
secret  unsuspected  determination  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart 
that  there  should  be  none. 

He  feared  religion,  from  a  suspicion  which  he  entertained 
that  it  might  hamper  some  of  his  future  schemes. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  249 

He  did  not  wish  to  put  himself  under  its  rules,  lest  he 
might  find  them  in  some  future  time  inconveniently  strict 

With  such  determinations  and  feelings,  the  Bible  —  neces 
sarily  an  excessively  uninteresting  book  to  him  —  he  never 
read,  and  satisfied  himself  with  determining  in  a  general  way 
that  it  was  not  worth  reading,  and  as  was  the  custom  with 
many  young  men  in  America,  at  that  period  announced  him 
self  as  a  sceptic,  and  seemed  to  value  himself  not  a  little  on 
the  distinction. 

Pride  in  scepticism  is  a  peculiar  distinction  of  young  men.j 
It  takes  years  and  maturity  to  make  the  discovery  that  the 
power  of  faith  is  nobler  than  the  power  of  doubt ;  and  that 
there  is  a  celestial  wisdom  in  the  ingenuous  propensity  to 
trust,  which  belongs  to  honest  and  noble  natures.  Elderly 
sceptics  generally  regard  their  unbelief  as  a  misfortune. 

Not  that  Moses  was,  after  all,  without  "  the  angel  in  him." 
He  had  a  good  deal  of  the  susceptibility  to  poetic  feeling,  the 
power  of  vague  and  dreamy  aspiration,  the  longing  after  the 
good  and  beautiful,  which  is  God's  witness  in  the  soul.  A 
noble  sentiment  in  poetry,  a  fine  scene  in  nature,  had  power 
to  bring  tears  in  his  great  dark  eyes,  and  he  had,  under  the 
influence  of  such  things,  brief  inspired  moments  in  which  he 
vaguely  longed  to  do,  or  be,  something  grand  or  noble^J 

But  this,  however,  was  something  apart  from  the  real  pur 
pose  of  his  life,  —  a  sort  of  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness, 
—  to  which  he  gave  little  heed. 

Practically,  he  was  determined  with  all  his  might,  to  have 
a  good  time  in  this  life,  whatever  another  might  be,  —  if 
there  were  one ;  and  that  he  would  do  it  by  the  strength  of 
his  right  arm.  Wealth  he  saw  to  be  the  lamp  of  Aladdiiij 
which  commanded  all  other  things.  And  the  pursuit  of 
wealth  was  therefore  the  first  step  in  his  programme. 
11* 


250  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

As  for  plans  of  the  heart  and  domestic  life,  Moses  was 
one  of  that  very  common  class  who  had  more  desire  to  be 
loved  than  power  of  loving.  His  cravings  and  dreams  were 
not  for  somebody  to  be  devoted  to,  but  for  somebody  who 
should  be  devoted  to  him.  And,  like  most  people  who 
possess  this  characteristic,  he  mistook  it  for  an  affectionate 
disposition. 

Now  the  chief  treasure  of  his  heart  had  always  been  his 
little  sister  Mara,  chiefly  from  his  conviction  that  he  was  the 
one  absorbing  thought  and  love  of  her  heart. 

He  had  never  figured  life  to  himself  otherwise  than  with 
Mara  at  his  side,  his  unquestioning,  devoted  friend. 

Of  course  he  and  his  plans,  his  ways  and  wants,  would 
always  be  in  the  future,  as  they  always  had  been,  her  sole 
thought. 

These  sleeping  partnerships  in  the  interchange  of  affec 
tion,  which  support  one's  heart  with  a  basis  of  uncounted 
wealth,  and  leave  one  free  to  come  and  go,  and  buy  and  sell 
without  exaction  or  interference,  are  a  convenience  certainly, 
and  the  loss  of  them  in  any  way  is  like  the  sudden  breaking 
of  a  bank  in  which  all  one's  deposits  are  laid. 

It  had  never  occurred  to  Moses  how  or  in  what  capacity 
he  should  always  stand  banker  to  the  whole  wealth  of  love 
that  there  was  in  Mara's  heart,  and  what  provision  he  should 
make  on  his  part  for  returning  this  incalculable  debt. 

But  the  interview  of  this  evening  had  raised  a  new 
thought  in  his  mind.  Mara,  as  he  saw  that  day,  was  no 
longer  a  little  girl  in  a  pink  sun-bonnet.  She  was  a  woman, 
—  a  little  one,  it  is  true,  but  every  inch  a  woman,  —  and  a 
woman  invested  with  a  singular  poetic  charm  of  appearance, 
which,  more  than  beauty,  has  the  power  of  awakening  feel 
ing  in  the  other  sex. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  251 

He  felt  in  himself — in  the  experience  of  that  one  day— - 
that  there  was  something  subtle  and  veiled  about  her,  which 
set  the  imagination  at  work  ;  that  the  wistful,  plaintive  ex 
pression  of  her  dark  eyes,  and  a  thousand  little  shy  and 
tremulous  movements  of  her  face,  affected  him  more  than 
the  most  brilliant  of  Sally  Kittridge's  sprightly  sallies.  Yes, 
there  would  be  people  falling  in  love  with  her  fast  enough, 
he  thought  even  here,  where  she  is  as  secluded  as  a  pearl  in 
an  oyster-shell.  It  seems  means  were  found  to  come  after 
her,  and  then  all  the  love  of  her  heart  —  that  priceless  love 
—  would  go  to  another. 

Mara  would  be  absorbed  in  some  one  else,  would  love 
some  one  else,  as  he  knew  she  could,  with  heart  and  soul 
and  mind  and  strength.     When  he  thought  of  this,  it  affect^ 
ed  him  much  as  it  would  if  one  were  turned  out  of  a  warm,  I 
smiling  apartment  into  a  bleak   December  storm.      WhaU 
should  he  do,  if  that  treasure  which  he  had  taken  most  for 
granted  in  all  his  valuations  of  life  should  suddenly  be  found 
to  belong  to  another  ?     Who  was  this  fellow  that  seemed  so~7 
free  to  visit  her,  and  what  had  passed  between  them  ?     Was  i 
Mara  in  love  with  him,  or  going  to  be  ?     There  is  no  saying  I 
how  the  consideration  of  this  question  enhanced  in  our  hero's  | 
opinion  both  her  beauty  and  all  her  other  good  qualities. 

Such  a  brave  little  heart !  such  a  good,  clear  little  head  ! 
and  such  a  pretty  hand  and  foot !  She  was  always  so  cheer 
ful,  so  unselfish,  so  devoted !  When  had  he  ever  seen  her 
angry,  except  when  she  had  taken  up  some  childish  quarrel 
of  his,  and  fought  for  him  like  a  little  Spartan  ?  Then  she 
was  pious,  too.  She  was  born  religious,  thought  our  hero, 
who,  in  common  with  many  men  professing  scepticism  for 
their  own  particular  part,  set  a  great  value  on  religion  in 
that  unknown  future  person  whom  they  are  fond  of  desig- 


252  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

nating  in  advance  as  "my  wife."  Yes,  Moses  meant  his 
wife  should  be  pious,  and  pray  for  him,  while  he  did  as  he 
pleased. 

"  Now  there  's  that  witch  of  a  Sally  Kittridge,"  he  said  to 
himself;  "  I  would  n't  have  such  a  girl  for  a  wife.  Nothing 
to  her  but  ^  foam  and  frisk,  —  no  heart  more  than  a  bobo 
link  !  But  is  n't  she  amusing  ?  By  George !  is  n't  she, 
though  ?  " 

"  But,"  thought  Moses,  "  it 's  time  I  settled  this  matter, 
who  is  to  be  my  wife.  I  won't  marry  till  I  'm  rich,  —  that 's 
flat.  My  wife  is  n't  to  rub  and  grub.  So  at  it  I  must  go  to 
raise  the  wind.  I  wonder  if  old  Sewell  really  does  know 
anything  about  my  parents.  Miss  Emily  would  have  it  that 
there  was  some  mystery  that  he  had  the  key  of;  but  I  never 
could  get  anything  from  him.  He  always  put  me  off  in 
such  a  smooth  way  that  I  could  n't  tell  whether  he  did  or 
he  did  n't.  But,  now,  supposing  I  have  relatives,  family 
connections,  then  who  knows  but  what  there  may  be  prop 
erty  coming  to  me  ?  That 's  an  idea  worth  looking  after, 
surely." 

There  's  no  saying  with  what  vividness  ideas  and  images 
go  through  one's  wakeful  brain  when  the  midnight  moon  is 
making  an  exact  shadow  of  your  window-sash,  with  panes 
of  light,  on  your  chamber-floor.  How  vividly  we  all  have 
~  loved  and  hated  and  planned  and  hoped  and  feared  and 
desired  and  dreamed,  as  we  tossed  and  turned  to  and  fro 
upon  such  watchful,  still  nights. 

In  the  stillness,  the  tide  upon  one  side  of  the  Island  re 
plied  to  the  dash  on  the  other  side  in  unbroken  symphony, 
and  Moses  began  to  remember  alLthe.^tQnes_^Qasip 
told  him  of  how  he  had  been  floated  ashore  there,  like  a 
fragment  of  tropical  sea-weed  borne  landward  by  a  great 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  253 

gale.  He  positively  wondered  at  himself  that  he  had  never 
thought  of  it  more,  and  the  more  he  meditated,  the  more 
mysterjous  and  inexplicable  he  felt.  Then  he  had  heard 
Miss  Roxy  once  speaking  something  about  a  bracelet,  he 
was  sure  he  had ;  but  afterwards  it  was  hushed  up,  and  no 
one  seemed  to  know  anything  about  it  when  he  inquired. 

But  in  those  days  he  was  a  boy,  —  he  was  nobody,  —  now 
he  was  a  young  man.  He  could  go  to  Mr.  Sewell,  and  de 
mand  as  his  right  a  fair  answer  to  any  questions  he  might 
ask.  If  he  found,  as  was  quite  likely,  that  there  was  noth 
ing  to  be  known,  his  mind  would  be  thus  far  settled,  —  he 
should  trust  only  to  his  own  resources. 

So  far  as  the  state  of  the  young  man's  finances  were  con 
cerned,  it  would  be  considered  in  those  simple  times  and 
regions  an  auspicious  beginning  of  life.  The  sum  intrusted 
to  him  by  Captain  Kittridge  had  been  more  than  doubled  by 
the  liberality  of  Zephaniah  Fennel,  and  Moses  had  traded 
upon  it  in  foreign  parts  with  a  skill  and  energy  that  brought 
a  very  fair  return,  and  gave  him,  in  the  eyes  of  the  shrewd, 
thrifty  neighbors,  the  prestige  of  a  young  man  who  was 
marked  for  success  in  the  world. 

He  had  already  formed  an  advantageous  arrangement 
with  his  grandfather  and  Captain  Kittridge,  by  which  a 
ship  was  to  be  built,  which  he  should  command  —  and  thus 
the  old  Saturday  afternoon  dream  of  their  childhood  be  ful 
filled. 

As  he  thought  of  it,  there  arose  in  his  mind  a  picture  of 
Mara,  with  her  golden  hair  and  plaintive  eyes  and  little 
white  hands,  reigning  as  a  fairy  queen  in  the  captain's  cabin, 
with  a  sort  of  wish  to  carry  her  off  and  make  sure  that  no 
one  else  ever  should  get  her  from  him. 

(But  these  midnight  dreams  were  all  sobered  down  by  the 
U 


254  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

plain  matter-of-fact  beams  of  the  morning  sunj  and  nothing 
remained  of  immediate  definite  purpose  except  the  resolve 
which  came  strongly  upon  Moses  as  he  looked  across  the 
blue  band  of  Harpswell  Bay,  that  he  would  go  that  morning 
and  have  a  talk  with  Mr.  Sewell. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  255 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Miss  ROXY  TOOTHACHE  was  seated  by  the  window  of  the 
little  keeping-room  where  Miss  Emily  Sewell  sat  on  every 
day  occasions.  Around  her  were  the  insignia  of  her  power 
and  sway.  Her  big  tailor's  goose  was  heating  between  Miss 
Emily's  bright  brass  fire-irons ;  her  great  pin-cushion  was  by 
her  side,  bristling  with  pins  of  all  sizes,  and  with  broken 
needles  thriftily  made  into  pins  by  heads  of  red  sealing-wax, 
and  with  needles  threaded  with  all  varieties  of  cotton,  silk, 
and  linen ;  her  scissors  hung  martially  by  her  side ;  her 
black  bombazette  work-apron  was  on ;  and  the  expression 
of  her  iron  features  was  that  of  deep  responsibility,  for  she 
was  maldngjthe  minister  a  new  Sunday  vest ! 

The.  good  s®ul  looks  not  a  day  older  than  when  we  left 
her,  ten  years  ago.  Like  the  gray,  weather-beaten  rocks  of 
her  native  shore,  her  strong  features  had  an  unchangeable 
identity  beyond  that  of  anything  fair  and  blooming.  There 
was  of  course  no  chance  for  a  gray  streak  in  her  stiff,  un 
compromising  mohair  frisette,  which  still  pushed  up  her  cap- 
border  bristlingly  as  of  old,  and  the  clear,  high  winds  and 
bracing  atmosphere  of  that  rough  coast  kept  her  in  an  ad 
mirable  state  of  preservation. 

Miss  Emily  had  now  and  then  a  white  hair  among  her 
soft,  pretty  brown  ones,  and  looked  a  little  thinner ;  but  the 
round,  bright  spot  of  bloom  on  each  cheek  was  there  just  as 
of  yore,  —  and  just  as  of  yore  she  was  thinking  of  her 


256  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND. 

brother,  and  filling  her  little  head  with  endless  calculations 
to  keep  him  looking  fresh  and  respectable,  and  his  house 
keeping  comfortable  and  easy,  on  very  limited  means.  She 
was  now  officiously  and  anxiously  attending  on  Miss  Roxy, 
who  was  in  the  midst  of  the  responsible  operation  which 
should  conduce  greatly  to  this  end. 

"  Does  that  twist  work  well  ?  "  she  said,  nervously ;  "  be 
cause  I  believe  I  've  got  some  other  up-stairs  in  my  India 
box." 

Miss  Roxy  surveyed  the  article  ;  bit  a  fragment  off,  as  if 
she  meant  to  taste  it ;  threaded  a  needle  and  made  a  few 
cabalistical  stitches  ;  and  then  pronounced,  ex  cathedra,  that 
it  would  do.  Miss  Emily  gave  a  sigh  of  relief.  After  but 
tons  and  tapes  and  linings,  and  various  other  items  had 
been  also  discussed,  the  conversation  began  to  flow  into 
general  channels. 

"  Did  you  know  Moses  Fennel  had  got  home  from  Um- 
bagog  ?  "  said  Miss  Roxy. 

"  Yes.  Captain  Kittridge  told  brother  so  this  morning.  I 
wonder  he  does  n't  call  over  to  see  us." 

"  Your  brother  took  a  sight  of  interest  in  that  boy,"  said 
Miss  Roxy.  "  I  was  saying  to  Ruey,  this  morning,  that  if 
Moses  Fennel  ever  did  turn  out  well,  he  ought  to  have  a 
large  share  of  the  credit." 

"  Brother  always  did  feel  a  peculiar  interest  in  him ;  it 
wras  such  a  strange  providence  that  seemed  to  cast  in  his  lot 
among  us,"  said  Miss  Emily. 

"  As  sure  as  you  live,  there  he  is  a-coming  to  the  front 
door,"  said  Miss  Roxy. 

"  Dear  me,"  said  Miss  Emily,  "  and  here  I  have  on  this 
old  faded  chintz.  Just  so  sure  as  one  puts  on  any  old  rag, 
and  thinks  nobody  will  come,  company  is  sure  to  call." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  257 

"  Law,  I  'm  sure  I  should  n't  think  of  calling  him  com 
pany,"  said  Miss  Roxy. 

A  rap  at  the  door  put  an  end  to  this  conversation,  and 
very  soon  Miss  Emily  introduced  our  hero  into  the  little 
sitting-room,  in  the  midst  of  a  perfect  stream  of  apologies 
relating  to  her  old  dress  and  the  littered  condition  of  the 
sitting-room,  for  Miss  Emily  held  to  the  doctrine  of  those 
who  consider  any  sign  of  human  occupation  and  existence 
in  a  room  as  being  disorder  —  however  reputable  and  re 
spectable  be  the  cause  of  it. 

"  Well,  really,"  she  said,  after  she  had  seated  Moses  by 
the  fire,  "  how  time  does  pass,  to  be  sure ;  it  don't  seem 
more  than  yesterday  since  you  used  to  come  with  your 
Latin  books,  and  now  here  you  are  a  grown  man !  I 
must  run  and  tell  Mr.  Sewell.  He  will  be  so  glad  to  see 
you." 

Mr.  Sewell  soon  appeared  from  his  study  in  morning- 
gown  and  slippers,  and  seemed  heartily  responsive  to  the 
proposition  which  Moses  soon  made  to  him  to  have  some 
private  conversation  with  him  in  his  study. 

"  I  declare,"  said  Miss  Emily,  as  soon  as  the  study-door 
had  closed  upon  her  brother  and  Moses,  "  what  a  handsome 
young  man  he  is !  and  what  a  beautiful  way  he  has  with 
him  !  —  so  deferential !  A  great  many  young  men  nowa 
days  seem  to  think  nothing  of  their  minister ;  but  he  comes 
to  seek  advice.  Very  proper.  It  is  n't  every  young  man 
that  appreciates  the  privilege  of  having  elderly  friends.  I 
declare,  what  a  beautiful  couple  he  and  Mara  Lincoln  would 
make  !  Don't  Providence  seem  in  a  peculiar  way  to  have 
designed  them  for  each  other  ?  " 

"  I  hope  not,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  with  her  grimmest  expres 
sion. 


258  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  You  don't !     Why  not  ?  " 

"  I  never  liked  him,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  who  had  possessed 
herself  of  her  great  heavy  goose,  and  was  now  thumping  and 
squeaking  it  emphatically  on  the  press-board.  "  She  's  a 
thousand  times  too  good  for  Moses  Fennel,"  —  thump.  "  I 
never  had  no  faith  in  him,"  —  thump.  "  He  's  dreffle  un- 
stiddy,"  —  thump.  "  He  's  handsome,  but  he  knows  it,"  — 
thump.  "  He  won't  never  love  nobody  so  much  as  he  does 
himself,"  —  thump,  fortissimo  con  spirito. 

"  Well,  really  now,  Miss  Roxy,  you  must  n't  always  re 
member  the  sins  of  his  youth.  Boys  must  sow  their  wild 
oats.  He  was  unsteady  for  a  while,  but  now  everybody 
says  he  's  doing  well ;  and  as  to  his  knowing  he 's  hand 
some,  and  all  that,  I  don't  see  as  he  does.  See  how  polite 
and  deferential  he  was  to  us  all,  this  morning ;  and  he  spoke 
so  handsomely  to  you." 

"  I  don't  want  none  of  his  politeness,"  said  Miss  Roxy, 
inexorably  ;  "  and  as  to  Mara  Lincoln,  she  might  have  bet 
ter  than  him  any  day.  Miss  Badger  was  a-tellin'  Captain 
Brown  Sunday  noon  that  she  was  very  much  admired  in 
Boston." 

"  So  she  was,"  said  Miss  Emily,  bridling.  "  I  never  re 
veal  secrets,  or  I  might  tell  something,  —  but  there  has 
been  a  young  man,  —  but  I  promised  not  to  speak  of  it,  and 
I  shar  n't." 

"If  you  mean  Mr.  Adams,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "you  needn't 
worry  about  keepin'  that  secret,  'cause  that  ar  was  all  talked 
over  atween  meetin's  a  Sunday  noon ;  for  Mis'  Kittridge  she 
used  to  know  his  aunt  Jerushy,  her  that  married  Solomon 
Peters,  and  Mis'  Captain  Badger  she  says  that  he  has  a  very 
good  property,  and  is  a  professor  in  the  Old  South  church  in 
Boston." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  259 

"Dear  me,"  said  Miss  Emily,  "how  things  do  get  about !  " 

"  People  will  talk,  there  a'n't  no  use  trying  to  help  it," 
said  Miss  Roxy  ;  "  but  it 's  strongly  borne  in  on  my  mind 
that  it  a'n't  Adams,  nor  't  a'n't  Moses  Fennel  that 's  to  marry 
her.  I  've  had  peculiar  exercises  of  mind  about  that  ar  child, 
—  well  I  have ; "  and  Miss  Roxy  pulled  a  large  spotted  ban 
danna  handkerchief  out  of  her  pocket,  and  blew  her  nose  like 
a  trumpet,  and  then  wiped  the  withered  corners  of  her  eyes, 
which  were  humid  as  some  old  Orr's  Island  rock  wet  with 
sea-spray. 

Miss  Emily  had  a  secret  love  of  romancing.  It  was  one 
of  the  recreations  of  her  quiet,  monotonous  life  to  build  air- 
castles,  which  she  furnished  regardless  of  expense,  and  in 
which  she  set  up  at  house-keeping  her  various  friends  and 
acquaintances,  and  she  had  always  been  bent  on-  weaving 
a  romance  on  the  history  of  Mara  and  Moses  Fennel. 

The  good  little  body  had  done  her  best  to  second  Mr. 
Sewell's  attempts  toward  the  education  of  the  children.  It 
was  little  busy  Miss  Emily  who  persuaded  honest  Zephaniah 
and  Mary  Fennel  that  talents  such  as  Mara's  ought  to  be 
cultivated,  and  that  ended  in  sending  her  to  Miss  Plucher's 
school  in  Portland.  There  her  artistic  faculties  were  trained 
into  creating  funereal  monuments  out  of  chenille  embroidery, 
fully  equal  to  Miss  Emily's  own;  also  to  painting  landscapes, 
in  which  the  ground  and  all  the  trees  were  one  unvarying 
tint  of  blue-green ;  and  also  to  creating  flowers  of  a  new 
and  particular  construction,  which,  as  Sally  Kittridge  re 
marked,  were  pretty,  but  did  not  look  like  anything  in 
heaven  or  earth.  Mara  had  obediently  and  patiently  done 
all  these  things ;  and  solaced  herself  with  copying  flowers 
and  birds  and  landscapes  as  near  as  possible  like  nature,  as  v 
a  recreation  from  these  more  dignified  toils. 


260  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

Miss  Emily  also  had  been  the  means  of  getting  Mara  in 
vited  to  Boston,  where  she  saw  some  really  polished  society, 
and  gained  as  much  knowledge  of  the  forms  of  artificial  life 
as  a  nature  so  wholly  and  strongly  individual  could  obtain. 
So  little  Miss  Emily  regarded  Mara  as  her  godchild,  and 
was  intent  on  finishing  her  up  into  a  romance  in  real  life, 
of  which  a  handsome  young  man,  who  had  been  washed 
ashore  in  a  shipwreck,  should  be  the  hero. 

What  would  she  have  said  could  she  have  heard  the 
conversation  that  was  passing  in  her  brother's  study  ? 
Little  could  she  dream  that  the  mystery,  about  which  she 
had  timidly  nibbled  for  years,  was  now  about  to  be  unrolled ; 
— -J)ut  it  was  even  so. 

jJBut,  upon  what  she  does  not  see,  good  reader,  you  and 
I,  following  invisibly  on  tiptoe,  will  make  our  observations.  ! 

When  Moses  was  first  ushered  into  Mr.  Sewell's  study, 
and  found  himself  quite  alone,  with  the  door  shut,  his  heart 
beat  so  that  he  fancied  the  good  man  must  hear  it.  He 
knew  well  what  he  wanted  and  meant  to  say,  but  he  found 
in  himself  all  that  shrinking  and  nervous  repugnance 
which  always  attends  the  proposing  of  any  decisive  ques 
tion. 

"  I  thought  it  proper,"  he  began,  "  that  I  should  call  and 
express  my  sense  of  obligation  to  you,  sir,  for  all  the  kind 
ness  you  showed  me  when  a  boy.  I  'm  afraid  in  those 
thoughtless  days  I  did  not  seem  to  appreciate  it  so  much  as 
I  do  now." 

As  Moses  said  this,  the  color  rose  in  his  cheeks,  and  his 
fine  eyes  grew  moist  with  a  sort  of  subdued  feeling  that 
made  his  face  for  the  moment  more  than  usually  beau 
tiful. 

Mr.  Sewell  looked  at  him  with  an  expression  of  peculiar 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  261 

interest,  which  seemed  to  have  something  almost  of  pain  in 
it,  and  answered  with  a  degree  of  feeling  more  than  he  com 
monly  showed,  — 

"  It  has  been  a  pleasure  to  me  to  do  anything  I  could  for 
you,  my  young  friend.  I  only  wish  it  could  have  been  more. 
I  congratulate  you  on  your  present  prospects  in  life.  You 
have  perfect  health ;  you  have  energy  and  enterprise ;  you 
are  courageous  and  self-reliant,  and,  I  trust,  your  habits  are 
pure  and  virtuous.  It  only  remains  that  you  add  to  all 
this  that  fear  of  the  Lord  which  is  the  beginning  of  wis 
dom." 

Moses  bowed  his  head  respectfully,  and  then  sat  silent  a 
moment,  as  if  he  were  looking  through  some  cloud  where  he 
vainly  tried  to  discover  objects. 

Mr.  Sewell  continued,  gravely,  — 

"  You  have  the  greatest  reason  to  bless  the  kind  Provi 
dence  which  has  cast  your  lot  in  such  a  family,  in  such  a 
community.  I  have  had  some  means  in  my  youth  of  com 
paring  other  parts  of  the  country  with  our  New  England, 
and  it  is  my  opinion  that  a  young  man  could  not  ask  a  bet 
ter  introduction  into  life  than  the  wholesome  nurture  of  a 
Christian  family  in  our  favored  land." 

"  Mr.  Sewell,"  said  Moses,  raising  his  head,  and  suddenly 
looking  him  straight  in  the  eyes,  "  do  you  know  anything  of 
my  family  ?  " 

The  question  was  so  point-blank  and  sudden,  that  for  a 
moment  Mr.  Sewell  made  a  sort  of  motion  as  if  he  dodged  a 
pistol-shot,  and  then  his  face  assumed  an  expression  of  grave 
thoughtfulness,  while  Moses  drew  a  long  breath.  It  was 
out,  —  the  question  had  been  asked. 

"  My  son,"  replied  Mr.  Sewell,  "  it  has  always  been  my 
intention,  when  you  had  arrived  at  years  of  discretion,  to 


262  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

make  you  acquainted  with  all  that  I  know  or  suspect  in 
regard  to  your  life.  I  trust  that  when  I  tell  you  all  I  do 
know,  you  will  see  that  I  have  acted  for  the  best  in  the 
matter.  It  has  been  my  study  and  my  prayer  to  do  so." 

Mr.  Sewell  then  rose,  and  unlocking  the  cabinet,  of  which 
we  have  before  made  mention,  in  his  apartment,  drew  forth 
a  very  yellow  and  time-worn  package  of  papers,  which  he 
untied.  From  these  he  selected  one  which,  enveloped  an 
old-fashioned  miniature  case. 

"  1  am  going .  to  show  you,"  he  said,  "  what  only  you  and 
my  God  know  that  I  possess.  I  have  not  looked  at  it  now 
for  ten  years,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  the  likeness  of 
your  mother." 

Moses  took  it  in  his  hand,  and  for  a  few  moments  there 
came  a  mist  over  his  eyes,  —  he  could  not  see  clearly.  He 
walked  to  the  window  as  if  needing  a  clearer  light. 

What  he  saw  was  a  painting  of  a  beautiful  young  girl, 
with  large  melancholy  eyes,  and  a  clustering  abundance  of 
black,  curly  hair.  The  face  was  of  a  beautiful,  clear  oval, 
with  that  warm  brunette  tint  in  which  the  Italian  painters 
delight.  The  black  eyebrows  were  strongly  and  clearly 
defined,  and  there  was  in  the  face  an  indescribable  expres 
sion  of  childish  innocence  and  shyness,  mingled  with  a  kind 
of  confiding  frankness,  that  gave  the  picture  the  charm 
which  sometimes  fixes  itself  in  faces  for  which  we  involun 
tarily  make  a  history. 

She  was  represented  as  simply  attired  in  a  white  muslin, 
made  low  in  the  neck,  and  the  hands  and  arms  were  singu 
larly  beautiful.  The  picture,  as  Moses  looked  at  it,  seemed 
to  stand  smiling  at  him  with  a  childish  grace,  —  a  tender, 
ignorant  innocence  which  affected  him  deeply. 

"  My  young  friend,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  "  I  have  written  all 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  263 

that  I  know  of  the  original  of  this  picture,  and  the  reasons 
I  have  for  thinking  her  your  mother. 

"  You  will  find  it  all  in  this  paper,  which,  if  I  had  been 
providentially  removed,  was  to  have  been  given  you  in  your 
twenty-first  year.  You  will  see  in  the  delicate  nature  of  the 
narrative  that  it  could  not  properly  have  been  imparted  to 
you  till  you  had  arrived  at  years  of  understanding.  I  trust 
when  you  know  all  that  you  will  be  satisfied  with  the  course 
I  have  pursued.  You  will  read  it  at  your  leisure,  and  after 
reading  I  shall  be  happy  to  see  you  again." 

Moses  took  the  package,  and  after  exchanging  salutations 
with  Mr.  Sewell,  hastily  left  the  house  and  sought  his  boat. 

When  one  has  suddenly  come  into  possession  of  a  letter 
or  paper  in  which  is  known  to  be  hidden  the  solution  of 
some  long-pondered  secret,  or  the  decision  of  fate  with 
regard  to  some  long-cherished  desire,  who  has  not  been 
conscious  of  a  sort  of  pain,  —  an  unwillingness,  at  once  tol 
know  what  is  therein  ? 

We  turn  the  letter  again  and  again,  we  lay  it  by  and 
return  to  it,  and  defer  from  moment  to  moment  the  opening 
of  it.  So  Moses  did  not  sit  down  in  the  first  retired  spot  to 
ponder  the  paper.  He  put*  it  in  the  breast  pocket  of  his 
coat,  and  then,  taking  up  his  oars,  rowed  across  the  bay. 
He  did  not  land  at  the  house,  but  passed  around  the  south 
point  of  the  Island,  and  rowed  up  the  other  side  to  seek  a 
solitary  retreat  in  the  rocks,-  which  had  always  been  a 
favorite  with  him  in  his  early  days. 

The  shores  of  the  Island,  as  we  have  said,  are  a  precipi 
tous  wall  of  rock,  whose  long,  ribbed  ledges  extend  far  out 
into  the  sea.  At  high  tide  these  ledges  are  covered  with  the 
smooth  blue  sea  quite  up  to  the  precipitous  shore.  There 
was  a  place,  however,  where  the  rocky  shore  shelved  over, 


264  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

forming  between  two  ledges  a  sort  of  grotto,  whose  smooth 
floor  of  shells  and  many-colored  pebbles  was  never  wet  by 
the  rising  tide.  It  had  been  the  delight  of  Moses  when  a 
boy,  to  come  here  and  watch  the  gradual  rise  of  the  tide  till 
the  grotto  was  entirely  cut  off  from  all  approach,  and  then  to 
look  out  in  a  sort  of  hermit-like  security  over  the  open  ocean 
that  stretched  before  him.  Many  an  hour  he  had  sat  there 
and  dreamed  of  all  the  possible  fortunes  that  might  be  found 
for  him  when  he  should  launch  away  into  that  blue  smiling 
futurity. 

It  was  now  about  half-tide,  and  Moses  left  his  boat  and 
made  his  way  over  the  ledge  of  rocks  toward  his  retreat. 
They  were  all  shaggy  and  slippery  with  yellow  sea-weeds, 
with  here  and  there  among  them  wide  crystal  pools,  where 
purple  and  lilac  and  green  mosses  unfolded  their  delicate 
threads,  and  thousands  of  curious  little  shell-fish  were  tran 
quilly  pursuing  their  quiet  life.  The  rocks  where  the  pel 
lucid  water  lay  were  in  some  places  crusted  with  barnacles, 
•which  were  opening  and  shutting  the  little  white  scaly  doors 
of  their  tiny  houses,  and  drawing  in  and  out  those  delicate 
pink  plumes  which  seem  to  be  their  nerves  of  enjoyment. 
Moses  and  Mara  had  rambled  and  played  here  many  hours 
of  their  childhood,  amusing  themselves  with  catching  crabs 
and  young  lobsters  and  various  little  fish  for  these  rocky 
aquariums,  and  then  studying  at  their  leisure  their  various 
ways.  Now  he  had  come  hither  a  man,  to  learn  the  secret 
of  his  life. 

Moses  stretched  himself  down  on  the  clean  pebbly  shore 
of  the  grotto,  and  drew  forth  Mr.  Sewell's  letter. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  265 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

MR.  SEWELL'S  letter  ran  as  follows :  — 

MY  DEAR  YOUNG  FRIEND,  —  It  has  always  been  my 
intention  when  you  arrived  at  years  of  maturity  to  acquaint 
you  with  some  circumstances  which  have  given  me  reason 
to  conjecture  your  true  parentage,  and  to  let  you  know  what 
steps  I  have  taken  to  satisfy  my  own  mind  in  relation  to 
these  conjectures. 

In  order  to  do  this,  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  go  back 
to  the  earlier  years  of  my  life,  and  give  you  the  history  of 
some  incidents  which  are  known  to  none  of  my  most  intimate 
friends.  I  trust  I  may  rely  on  your  honor  that  they  will 
ever  remain  as  secrets  with  you. 

I  graduated  from  Harvard  University  in .  At  the 

time  I  was  suffering  somewhat  from  an  affection  of  the 
lungs,  which  occasioned  great  alarm  to  my  mother,  many  of 
whose  family  had  died  of  consumption. 

In  order  to  allay  her  uneasiness,  and  also  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  funds  for  the  pursuit  of  my  professional  studies,  I 
accepted  a  position  as  tutor  in  the  family  of  a  wealthy  gen 
tleman  at  St.  Augustine,  in  Florida. 

I  cannot  do  justice  to  myself,  —  to  the  motives  which 
actuated  me  in  the  events  which  took  place  in  this  family, 
without  speaking  with  the  most  undisguised  freedom  of  the 
character  of  all  the  parties  with  whom  I  was  connected. 

Don  Jose  Mendoza  was  a  Spanish  gentleman  of  large 
12 


266  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

property,  who  had  emigrated  from  the  Spanish  West  Indies 
to  Florida,  bringing  with  him  an  only  daughter,  who  had 
been  left  an  orphan  by  the  death  of  her  mother  at  a  very 
early  age. 

He  brought  to  this  country  a  large_number  of  slaves  ;  — 
and  shortly  after  his  arrival,  married  an  American  lady  :  a 
widow  with  three  children.  By  her  he  had  four  other  chil 
dren.  And  thus  it  will  appear  that  the  family  was  made  up 
of  such  a  variety  of  elements  as  only  the  most  judicious  care 
could  harmonize. 

But  the  character  of  the  father  and  mother  was  such  that 
judicious  care  was  a  thing  not  to  be  expected  of  either. 

Don  Jose  was  extremely  ignorant  and  proud,  and  had  lived 
a  life  of  the  grossest  dissipation.  Habits  of  absolute  author 
ity  in  the  midst  of  a  community  of  a  very  low  moral  stand 
ard,  had  produced  in  him  all  the  worst  vices  of  despots.  He 
was  cruel,  overbearing,  and  dreadfully  passionate.  His  wife 
was  a  woman  who  had  pretensions  to  beauty,  and  at  times 
could  make  herself  agreeable,  and  even  fascinating,  but 
she  was  possessed  of  a  temper  quite  as  violent  and  ungov- 
erned  as  his  own. 

Imagine  now  two  classes  of  slaves,  the  one  belonging  to 
the  mistress,  and  the  other  brought  into  the  country  by  the 
master,  and  each  animated  by  a  party  spirit  and  jealousy ; 
—  imagine  children  of  different  marriages,  inheriting  from 
their  parents  violent  tempers  and  stubborn  wills,  flattered 
and  fawned  on  by  slaves,  and  alternately  petted  or  stormed 
at,  now  by  this  parent  and  now  by  that,  and  you  will  havf 
some  idea  of  the  task  which  I  undertook  in  being  tutor  in 
this  family. 

I  was  young  and  fearless  in  those  days,  as  you  are  now  ; 
and  the  difficulties  of  the  position,  instead  of  exciting  appre- 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  267 

hension,  only  awakened  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  adven 
ture. 

The  whole  arrangements  of  the  household,  to  me  fresh 
from  the  simplicity  and  order  of  New  England,  had  a  singu 
lar  and  wild  sort  of  novelty  which  was  attractive  rather  than 
otherwise.  I  was  well  recommended  in  the  family  by  an 
influential  and  wealthy  gentleman  of  Boston,  who  repre 
sented  my  family,  as  indeed  it  was,  as  among  the  oldest  and 
most  respectable  of  Boston,  and  spoke  in  such  terms  of  me, 
personally,  as  I  should  not  have  ventured  to  use  in  relation 
to  myself.  When  I  arrived,  I  found  that  two  or  three  tutors, 
who  had  endeavored  to  bear  well  in  this  tempestuous  family, 
had  thrown  up  the  command  after  a  short  trial,  and  that  the 
parents  felt  some  little  apprehension  of  not  being  able  to 
secure  the  services  of  another,  —  a  circumstance  which  I 
did  not  fail  to  improve  in  making  my  preliminary  arrange 
ments.  I  assumed  an  air  of  grave  hauteur,  was  very  ex 
acting  in  all  my  requisitions  and  stipulations,  and  would  give 
no  promise  of  doing  more  than  to  give  the  situation  a  tem 
porary  trial.  I  put  on  an  air  of  supreme  indifference  as  to 
my  continuance,  and  acted  in  fact  rather  on  the  assumption 
that  I  should  confer  a  favor  by  remaining. 

In  this  way  I  succeeded  in  obtaining  at  the  outset  a  posi 
tion  of  more  respect  and  deference  than  had  been  enjoyed 
by  any  of  my  predecessors.  I  had  a  fine  apartment,  a  ser 
vant  exclusively  devoted  to  me,  a  horse  for  riding,  and  saw 
myself  treated  among  the  servants  as  a  person  of  considera 
tion  and  distinction. 

Don  Jose  and  his  wife  both  had  in  fact  a  very  strong 
desire  to  retain  my  services,  when  after  the  trial  of  a  week 
or  two,  it  was  found  that  I  really  could  make  their  discord 
ant  and  turbulent  children  to  some  extent  obedient  and  studi- 


268  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

ous  during  certain  portions  of  the  day ;  and  in  fact  I  soon 
acquired  in  the  whole  family  that  ascendency  which  a  well- 
bred  person  who  respects  himself,  and  can  keep  his  temper, 
must  have  over  passionate  and  undisciplined  natures. 

I  became  the  receptacle  of  the  complaints  of  all,  and  a  sort 
of  confidential  adviser.  Don  Jose  imparted  to  me  with 
more  frankness  than  good  taste  his  chagrins  with  regard  to 
his  wife's  indolence,  ill-temper,  and  bad  management,  and 
his  wife  in  turn  omitted  no  opportunity  to  vent  complaints 
against  her  husband  for  similar  reasons.  I  endeavored,  to 
the  best  of  my  ability,  to  act  a  friendly  part  by  both.  It 
never  was  in  my  nature  to  see  anything  that  needed  to  be 
done  without  trying  to  do  it,  and  it  was  impossible  to  work 
at  all  without  becoming  so  interested  in  my  work  as  to  do 
far  more  than  I  had  agreed  to  do.  I  assisted  Don  Jose 
about  many  of  his  affairs ;  brought  his  neglected  accounts 
into  order ;  and  suggested  from  time  to  time  arrangements 
which  relieved  the  difficulties  which  had  been  brought  on 
by  disorder  and  neglect.  In  fact,  I  became,  as  he  said, 
quite  a  necessary  of  life  to  him. 

In  regard  to  the  children,  I  had  a  more  difficult  task. 
The  children  of  Don  Jose  by  his  present  wife  had  been 
systematically  stimulated  by  the  negroes  into  a  chronic  habit 
of  dislike  and  jealousy  toward  her  children  by  a  former  hus 
band.  On  the  slightest  pretext,  they  were  constantly  running 
to  their  father  with  complaints  ;  and  as  the  mother  warmly 
espoused  the  cause  of  her  first  children,  criminations  and  re 
criminations  often  convulsed  the  whole  family. 

In  ill-regulated  families  in  that  region,  the  care  of  the 
children  is  from  the  first  in  the  hands  of j  half-barbarized 

L-^ 

negroes,jwhose  power  of  moulding  and  assimilating  childish 
minds  is  peculiar,  so  that  the  teacher  has  to  contend  coil- 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  269 

stantly  with  a  savage  element  in  the  children  which  seems 
to  have  been  drawn  in  with  the  mother's  milk. 

It  is,  in  a  modified  way,  something  the  same  result  as  if 
the  child  had  formed  its  manners  in  Dahomey  or  on  the  coast 
of  Guinea. 

In  the  fierce  quarrels  which  were  carried  on  between  the 
children  of  this  family,  I  had  frequent  occasion  to  observe 
this  strange,  savage  element,  which  sometimes  led  to  expres 
sions  and  actions  which  would  seem  incredible  in  civilized 
society. 

The  three  children  by  Madame  Mendoza's  former  husband 
were  two  girls  of  sixteen  and  eighteen  and  a  boy  of  fourteen. 

The  four  children  of  the  second  marriage  consisted  of 
three  boys  and  a  daughter,  —  the  eldest  being  not  more 
than  thirteen. 

The  natural  capacity  of  all  the  children  was  good,  al 
though,  from  self-will  and  indolence,  they  had  grown  up  in 
a  degree  of  ignorance  which  could  not  have  been  tolerated 
except  in  a  family  living  an  isolated  plantation  life  in  the 
midst  of  barbarized  dependents. 

Savage  and  untaught  and  passionate  as  they  were,  the 
work  of  teaching  them  was  not  without  its  interest  to  me. 
A  power  of  control  was  with  me  a  natural  gift ;  and  then 
that  command  of  temper  which  is  the  common  attribute  of 
well-trained  persons  in  the  Northern  states,  was  something 
so  singular  in  this  family  as  to  invest  its  possessor  with  a 
certain  awe ;  and  my  calm,  energetic  voice,  and  determined 
manner,  often  acted  as  a  charm  on  their  stormy  natures. 

But  there  was  one  member  of  the  family  of  whom  I  have 
not  yet  spoken,  —  and  yet  all  this  letter  is  about  her,  —  the 
daughter  of  Don  Jose  by  his  first  marriage.  Poor  Dolores ! 
poor  child  !  God  grant  she  may  have  entered  into  his  rest ! 


270  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

I  need  not  describe  her.  You  have  seen  her  picture. 
And  in  the  wild,  rude,  discordant  family,  she  always  re 
minded  me  of  the  words,  "  a  lily  among  thorns."  She  was 
in  her  nature  unlike  all  the  rest,  and,  I  may  say,  unlike  any 
one  I  ever  saw.  She  seemed  to  live  a  lonely  kind  of  life  in 
this  disorderly  household,  often  marked  out  as  the  object  of 
the  spites  and  petty  tyrannies  of  both  parties.  She  was  re 
garded  with  bitter  hatred  and  jealousy  by  Madame  Mendoza, 
who  was  sure  to  visit  her  with  unsparing  bitterness  and  cru 
elty  after  the  occasional  demonstrations  of  fondness  she  re 
ceived  from  her  father.  Her  exquisite  beauty  and  the  gentle 
softness  of  her  manners,  made  her  such  a  contrast  to  her 
sisters  as  constantly  excited  their  ill-will.  Unlike  them  all, 
she  was  fastidiously  neat  in  her  personal  habits,  and  orderly 
in  all  the  little  arrangements  of  life. 

She  seemed  to  me  in  this  family  to  be  like  some  shy, 
beautiful  pet  creature  in  the  hands  of  rude,  unappreciated 
owners,  hunted  from  quarter  to  quarter,  and  finding  rest  only 
by  stealth.  Yet  she  seemed  to  have  no  perception  of  the 
harshness  and  cruelty  with  which  she  was  treated.  She  had 
grown  up  with  it ;  it  was  the  habit  of  her  life  to  study  peace 
able  methods  of  averting  or  avoiding  the  various  inconven 
iences  and  annoyances  of  her  lot,  and  secure  to  herself  a 
little  quiet. 

It  not  unfrequently  happened,  amid  the  cabals  and  storms 
which  shook  the  family,  that  one  party  or  the  other  took  up 
and  patronized  Dolores  for  a  while,  more,  as  it  would  appear, 
out  of  hatred  for  the  other  than  any  real  love  to  her.  At 
such  times  it  was  really  affecting  to  see  with  what  warmth 
the  poor  child  would  receive  these  equivocal  demonstra 
tions  of  good-will  —  the  nearest  approaches  to  affection 
which  she  had  ever  known  —  and  the  bitterness  with  which 


THE;  PEARL  OF  ORR?S  ISLAND.  271 

she  would  mourn  when  they  were  capriciously  withdrawn 
again. 

With  a  heart  full  of  affection,  she  reminded  me  of  some 
delicate,  climbing  plant  trying  vainly  to  ascend  the  slippery 
side  of  an  inhospitable  wall,  and  throwing  its  neglected  ten 
drils  around  every  weed  for  support. 

Her  only  fast,  unfailing  friend  was  her  old  negro  nurse,  or 
Mammy,  as  the  children  called  her.  This  old  creature,  with 
the  cunning  and  subtlety  which  had  grown  up  from  years  of 
servitude,  watched  and  waited  upon  the  interests  of  her  little 
mistress,  and  contrived  to  carry  many  points  for  her  in  the 
confused  household. 

Her  young  mistress  was  her  one  thought  and  purpose  in 
living.  She  would  have  gone  through  fire  and  water  to 
serve  her ;  and  this  faithful,  devoted  heart,  blind  and  igno 
rant  though  it  were,  was  the  only  unfailing  refuge  and  solace 
of  the  poor  hunted  child. 

Dolores,  of  course,  became  my  pupil  among  the  rest. 
Like  the  others,  she  had  suffered  by  the  neglect  and  inter 
ruptions  in  the  education  of  the  family,  but  she  was  intel 
ligent  and  docile,  and  learned  with  a  surprising  rapidity.  It 
was  not  astonishing  that  she  should  soon  have  formed  an 
enthusiastic  attachment  to  me,  as  I  was  the  only  intelligent, 
cultivated  person  she  had  ever  seen,  and  treated  her  with 
unvarying  consideration  and  delicacy. 

The  poor  thing  had  been  so  accustomed  to  barbarous 
words  and  manners  that  simple  politeness  and  the  usages 
of  good  society  seemed  to  her  cause  for  the  most  bound 
less  gratitude. 

It  is  due  to  myself,  in  view  of  what  follows,  to  say  that  I 
was  from  the  first  aware  of  the  very  obvious  danger  which 
lay  in  my  path  in  finding  myself  brought  into  close  and  daily 
relations  with  a  young  creature  so  confiding,  so  attractive, 


272  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

and  so  singularly  circumstanced.  I  knew  that  it  would  be 
in  the  highest  degree  dishonorable  to  make  the  slightest  ad 
vances  toward  gaining  from  her  that  kind  of  affection  which 
might  interfere  with  her  happiness  in  such  future  relations 
as  her  father  might  arrange  for  her.  According  to  the 
European  fashion,  I  knew  that  Dolores  was  in  her  father's 
hands,  to  be  disposed  of  for  life  according  to  his  pleasure,  as 
absolutely  as  if  she  had  been  one  of  his  slaves.  I  had  every 
reason  to  think  that  his  plans  on  this  subject  were  matured, 
and  only  waited  for  a  little  more  teaching  and  training  on 
my  part,  and  her  fuller  development  in  womanhood,  to  be 
announced  to  her. 

In  looking  back  over  the  past,  therefore,  I  have  not  to 
reproach  myself  with  any  dishonest  and  dishonorable  breach 
of  trust ;  for  I  was  from  the  first  upon  my  guard,  and  -so 
much  so  that  even  the  jealousy  of  my  other  scholars  never 
accused  me  of  partiality.  I  was  not  in  the  habit  of  giving 
very  warm  praise,  and  was  in  my  general  management  anx 
ious  rather  to  be  just  than  conciliatory,  knowing  that  with 
the  kind  of  spirits  I  had  to  deal  with,  firmness  and  justice 
went  farther  than  anything  else.  If  I  approved  Dolores 
oftener  than  the  rest,  it  was  seen  to  be  because  she  never 
failed  in  a  duty  ;  if  I  spent  more  time  with  her  lessons,  it 
was  because  her  enthusiasm  for  study  led  her  to  learn  longer 
ones  and  study  more  things;  but  I  am  sure  there  was  never 
a  look  or  a  word  toward  her  that  went  beyond  the  proprieties 
of  my  position. 

But  yet  I  could  not  so  well  guard  my  heart.  I  was  young 
and  full  of  feeling.  She  was  beautiful ;  and  more  than  that, 
there  was  something  in  her  Spanish  nature  at  once  so  warm 
and  simple,  so  artless  and  yet  so  unconsciously  poetic,  that 
her  presence  was  a  continual  charm. 

How  well  I  remember  her  now,  —  all  her  little  ways,  — 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  273 

the  movements  of  her  pretty  little  hands,  —  the  expression 
of  her  changeful  face  as  she  recited  to  me,  —  the  grave, 
rapt  earnestness  with  which  she  listened  to  all  my  instruc 
tions  ! 

I  had  not  been  with  her  many  weeks  before  I  felt  con 
scious  that  it  was  her  presence  that  charmed  the  whole  house, 
and  made  the  otherwise  perplexing  and  distasteful  details  of 
my  situation  agreeable.  I  had  a  dim  perception  that  this 
growing  passion  was  a  dangerous  thing  for  myself;  but  was 
it  a  reason,  I  asked,  why  I  should  relinquish  a  position  in 
which  I  felt  that  I  was  useful,  and  when  I  could  do  for  this 
lovely  child  what  no  one  else  could  do  ?  I  call  her  a  child, 
—  she  always  impressed  me  as  such,  —  though  she  was  in 
her  sixteenth  year  and  had  the  early  womanly  development 
of  Southern  climates.  She  seemed  to  me  like  something 
frail  and  precious,  needing  to  be  guarded  and  cared  for ;  and 
when  reason  told  me  that  I  risked  my  own  happiness  in 
holding  my  position,  love  argued  on  the  other  hand  that  I 
was  her  only  friend,  and  that  I  should  be  willing  to  risk 
something  myself  for  the  sake  of  protecting  and  shielding 
her. 

For  there  was  no  doubt  that  my  presence  in  the  family 
was  a  restraint  upon  the  passions  which  formerly  vented 
themselves  so  recklessly  on  her,  and  established  a  sort  of 
order  in  which  she  found  more  peace  than  she  had  ever 
known  before. 

For  a  long  time  in  our  intercourse  I  was  in  the  habit  of 
looking  on  myself  as  the  only  party  in  danger.  It  did  not 
occur  to  me  that  this  heart,  so  beautiful  and  so  lonely,  might, 
in  the  want  of  all  natural  and  appropriate  objects  of  attach 
ment,  fasten  itself  on  me  unsolicited,  from  the  mere  neces 
sity  of  loving.  She  seemed  to  me  so  much  too  beautiful,  too 
"l2* 


274  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

perfect,  to  belong  to  a  lot  in  life  like  mine,  that  I  could  not 
suppose  it  possible  this  could  occur  without  the  most  blame 
worthy  solicitation  on  my  part ;  and  it  is  the  saddest  and 
most  affecting  proof  to  me  how  this  poor  child  had  been 
starved  for  sympathy  and  love,  that  she  should  have  repaid 
such  cold  services  as  mine  with  such  an  entire  devotion.  At 
first  her  feelings  were  expressed  openly  toward  me,  with  the 
dutiful  air  of  a  good  child.  She  placed  flowers  on  my  desk 
in  the  morning,  and  made  quaint  little  nosegays  in  the 
Spanish  fashion,  which  she  gave  me,  and  busied  her  leisure 
with  various  ingenious  little  knick-knacks  of  fancy  work, 
which  she  brought  me.  I  treated  them  all  as  the  offer 
ings  of  a  child  while  with  her,  but  I  kept  them  sacredly 
in  my  own  room.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  have  some  of  the 
poor  little  things  now. 

But  after  a  while  I  could  not  help  seeing  how  she  loved 
me  ;  and  then  I  felt  as  if  I  ought  to  go;  but  how  could  I? 
The  pain  to  myself  I  could  have  borne;  but  how  could  I 
leave  her  to  all  the  misery  of  her  bleak,  ungenial  position  ? 
She,  poor  thing,  was  so  unconscious  of  what  I  knew,  —  for 
I  was  made  clear-sighted  by  love.  I  tried  the  more  strictly 
to  keep  to  the  path  I  had  marked  out  for  myself,  but  I  fear 
I  did  not  always  do  it ;  in  fact,  many  things  seemed  to  con 
spire  to  throw  us  together.  The  sisters,  who  were  some 
times  invited  out  to  visit  on  neighboring  estates,  were  glad 
enough  to  dispense  with  the  presence  and  attractions  of 
Dolores,  and  so  she  was  frequently  left  at  home  to  study 
with  me  in  their  absence.  As  to  Don  Jose,  although  he 
always  treated  me  with  civility,  yet  he  had  such  an  in 
grained  and  deep-rooted  idea  of  his  own  superiority  of 
position,  that  I  suppose  he  would  as  soon  have  imagined 
the  possibility  of  his  daughter's  falling  in  love  with  one  of 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  275 

his  horses.  I  was  a  great  convenience  to  him.  I  had  a 
knack  of  governing  and  carrying  points  in  his  family  that 
it  had  always  troubled  and  fatigued  him  to  endeavor  to  ar 
range, —  and  that  was  all.  So  that  my  intercourse  with 
Dolores  was  as  free  and  unwatched,  and  gave  me  as  many 
opportunities  of  enjoying  her  undisturbed  society,  as  heart 
could  desire. 

At  last  came  the  crisis,  however.  After  breakfast  one 
morning,  Don  Jose  called  Dolores  into  his  library  and  an 
nounced  to  her  that  he  had  concluded  for  her  a  treaty  of 
marriage,  and  expected  her  husband  to  arrive  in  a  few  days. 
He  expected  that  this  news  would  be  received  by  her  with 
the  glee  with  which  a  young  girl  hears  of  a  new  dress  or 
of  a  ball-ticket,  and  was  quite  confounded  at  the  grave  and 
mournful  silence  in  which  she  received  it.  She  said  no 
word,  made  no  opposition,  but  went  out  from  the  room  and 
shut  herself  up  in  her  own  apartment,  and  spent  the  day  in 
tears  and  sobs. 

Don  Jose,  who  had  rather  a  greater  regard  for  Dolores 
than  for  any  creature  living,  and  who  had  confidently  ex 
pected  to  give  great  delight  by  the  news  he  had  imparted, 
was  quite  confounded  by  this  turn  of  things.  If  there  had 
been  one  word  of  either  expostulation  or  argument,  he 
would  have  blazed  and  stormed  in  a  fury  of  passion  ;  but 
as  it  was,  this  broken-hearted  submission,  though  vexatious, 
was  perplexing.  He  sent  for  me,  and  opened  his  mind, 
and  begged  me  to  talk  with  Dolores  and  show  her  the  ad 
vantages  of  the  alliance,  which  the  poor  foolish  child,  he 
said,  did  not  seem  to  comprehend.  The  man  was  immensely 
rich,  and  had  a  splendid  estate  in  Cuba.  It  was  a  most 
desirable  thing. 

I  ventured  to  inquire  whether  his  person  and  manners 


276  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

were  such  as  would  be  pleasing  to  a  young  girl,  and  could 
gather  only  that  he  was  a  man  of  about  fifty,  who  had  been 
most  of  his  life  in  the  military  service,  and  was  now  desir 
ous  of  making  an  establishment  for  the  repose  of  his  latter 
days,  at  the  head  of  which  he  would  place  a  handsome  and 
tractable  woman,  and  do  well  by  her. 

I  represented  that  it  would  perhaps  be  safer  to  say  no 
more  on  the  subject  until  Dolores  had  seen  him,  and  to  this 
he  agreed.  Madame  Mendoza  was  very  zealous  in  the 
affair,  for  the  sake  of  getting  clear  of  the  presence  of  Do 
lores  in  the  family,  and  her  sisters  laughed  at  her  for  her 
dejected  appearance.  They  only  wished,  they  said,  that  so 
much  luck  might  happen  to  them.  For  myself,  I  endeav 
ored  to  take  as  little  notice  as  possible  of  the  affair,  though 
what  I  felt  may  be  conjectured.  I  knew,  —  I  was  perfectly 
certain,  —  that  Dolores  loved  me  as  I  loved  her.  I  knew 
that  she  had  one  of  those  simple  and  unworldly  natures 
which  wealth  and  splendor  could  not  satisfy,  and  whose  life 
would  lie  entirely  in  her  affections.  Sometimes  I  violently 
debated  with  myself  whether  honor  required  me  to  sacrifice 
her  happiness  as  well  as  my  own,  and  I  felt  the  strongest 
temptation  to  ask  her  to  be  my  wife  and  fly  with  me  to  the 
Northern  States,  where  I  did  not  doubt  my  ability  to  make 
for  her  a  humble  and  happy  home. 

But  the  sense  of  honor  is  often  stronger  than  all  reason 
ing,  and  I  felt  that  such  a  course  would  be  the  betrayal  of 
a  trust ;  and  I  determined  at  least  to  command  myself  till  I 
should  see  the  character  of  the  man  who  was  destined  to  be 
her  husband. 

Meanwhile  the  whole  manner  of  Dolores  was  changed. 
She  maintained  a  stony,  gloomy  silence,  performed  all  her 
duties  in  a  listless  way,  and  occasionally,  when  I  commented 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  277 

on  anything  in  her  lessons  or  exercises,  would  break  into 
little  flashes  of  petulance,  most  strange  and  unnatural  in  her. 
Sometimes  I  could  feel  that  she  was  looking  at  me  earnestly, 
but  if  I  turned  my  eyes  toward  her,  hers  were  instantly 
averted  ;  but  there  was  in  her  eyes  a  peculiar  expression 
at  times,  such  as  I  have  seen  in  the  eye  of  a  hunted  animal 
when  it  turned  at  bay,  —  a  sort  of  desperate  resistance,  — 
which,  taken  in  connection  with  her  fragile  form  and  lovely 
face,  produced  a  mournful  impression. 

One  morning  I  found  Dolores  sitting  alone  in  the  school 
room,  leaning  her  head  on  her  arms.  She  had  on  her  wrist 
a  bracelet  of  peculiar  workmanship,  which  she  always  wore, 

—  the  bracelet  which  was  afterwards  the  means  of  confirm 
ing  her  identity.     She  sat  thus  some  moments  in  silence,  and 
then   she  raised  her  head  and  began  turning  this  bracelet 
round  and  round  upon  her  arm,  while  she  looked  fixedly 
before  her.     At  last  she  spoke  abruptly,  and   said,  — 

"  Did  I  ever  tell  you  that  this  was  my  mother's  hair  ?  It 
is  my  mother's  hair,  —  and  she  was  the  only  one  that  ever 
loved  me  ;  except  poor  old  Mammy,  nobody  else  loves  me, 

—  nobody  ever  will." 

"  My  dear  Miss  Dolores,"  I  began. 

"  Don't  call  me  dear,"  she  said  ;  "  you  don't  care  for  me, 

—  nobody  does,  —  papa  does  n't,  and  I  always  loved  him  ; 
everybody  in  the  house  wants  to  get  rid  of  me,  whether  I 
like  to  go  or  not.     I  have  always  tried  to  be  good  and  do 
all  you  wanted,  and  I  should  think  you  might  care  for  me 
a  little,  but  you  don't." 

"  Dolores,"  I  said,  "  1  do  care  for  you  more  than  I  do 
for  any  one  in  the  world  ;  I  love  you  more  than  my  own 
soul." 

These  were  the  very  words  I  never   meant  to  say,  but 


278  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

somehow  they  seemed  to  utter  themselves  against  my  will. 
She  looked  at  me  for  a  moment  as  if  she  could  not  believe 
her  hearing,  and  then  the  blood  flushed  her  face,  and  she 
laid  her  head  down  on  her  arms. 

At  this  moment  Madame  Mendoza  and  the  other  girls 
came  into  the  room  in  a  clamor  of  admiration  about  a  dia 
mond  bracelet  which  had  just  arrived  as  a  present  from  her 
future  husband. 

It  was  a  splendid  thing,  and  had  for  its  clasp  his  minia 
ture,  surrounded  by  the  largest  brilliants. 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  party  even  at  this  moment  could 
not  say  anything  in  favor  of  the  beauty  of  this  miniature, 
which,  though  painted  on  ivory,  gave  the  impression  of  a 
coarse-featured  man,  with  a  scar  across  one  eye. 

"  No  matter  for  the  beauty,"  said  one  of  the  girls,  "  so 
long  as  it  is  set  with  such  diamonds." 

"  Come,  Dolores,"  said  another,  giving  her  the  present, 
"  pull  off  that  old  hair  bracelet,  and  try  this  on." 

Dolores  threw  the  diamond  bracelet  from  her  with  a 
vehemence  so  unlike  her  gentle  self  as  to  startle  every 
one. 

"  I  shall  not  take  off  my  mother's  bracelet  for  a  gift  from 
a  man  I  never  knew,"  she  said.  "  I  hate  diamonds.  I 
wish  those  who  like  such  things  might  have  them." 

"  Was  ever  anything  so  odd  ?  "  said  Madame  Mendoza. 

"  Dolores  always  was  odd,"  said  another  of  the  girls ; 
"nobody  ever  could  tell  what  she  would  like." 


THE  PEARL  OF  OKR'S  ISLAND.  279 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  next  day  Senor  Don  Guzman  de  Cardona  ar 
rived,  and  the  whole  house  was  in  a  commotion  of  excite 
ment.  There  was  to  be  no  school,  and  everything  was 
bustle  and  confusion.  I  passed  my  time  in  my  own  room 
in  reflecting  severely  upon  myself  for  the  imprudent  words 
by  which  I  had  thrown  one  more  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
this  poor  harassed  child. 

Dolores  this  day  seemed  perfectly  passive  in  the  hands  of 
her  mother  and  sisters,  who  appeared  disposed  to  show  her 
great  attention.  She  allowed  them  to  array  her  in  her  most 
becoming  dress,  and  made  no  objection  to  anything  except 
removing  the  bracelet  from  her  arm.  "  Nobody's  gifts 
should  take  the  place  of  her  mother's,"  she  said,  and  they 
were  obliged  to  be  content  with  her  wearing  of  the  diamond 
bracelet  on  the  other  arm. 

Don  Guzman  was  a  large,  plethoric  man,  with  coarse 
features  and  heavy  gait.  Besides  the  scar  I  have  spoken 
of,  his  face  was  adorned  here  and  there  with  pimples,  which 
were  not  set  down  in  the  miniature. 

In  the  course  of  the  first  hour's  study,  I  saw  him  to  be  a 
man  of  much  the  same  stamp  as  Dolores's  father  —  sensual, 
tyrannical,  passionate.  He  seemed  in  his  own  way  to  be 
much  struck  with  the  beauty  of  his  intended  wife,  and  was 
not  wanting  in  efforts  to  please  her.  All  that  I  could  see 
in  her  was  the  settled,  passive  paleness  of  despair.  She 


280  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

played,  sang,  exhibited  her  embroidery  and  painting,  at  the 
command  of  Madame  Mendoza,  with  the  air  of  an  automa 
ton  ;  and  Don  Guzman  remarked  to  her  father  on  the  pas 
sive  obedience  as  a  proper  and  hopeful  trait.  Once  only, 
when  he,  in  presenting  her  a  flower,  took  the  liberty  of  kiss 
ing  her  cheek,  did  I  observe  the  flashing  of  her  eye  and 
a  movement  of  disgust  and  impatience,  that  she  seemed 
scarcely  able  to  restrain. 

The  marriage  was  announced  to  take  place  the  next  week, 
and  a  holiday  was  declared  through  the  house.  Nothing  was 
talked  of  or  discussed  but  the  corleille  de  mariage  which  the 
bridegroom  had  brought  —  the  dresses,  laces,  sets  of  jewels, 
and  cashmere  shawls.  Dolores  never  had  been  treated 
with  such  attention  by  the  family  in  her  life.  She  rose  im 
measurably  in  the  eyes  of  all  as  the  future  possessor  of  such 
wealth  and  such  an  establishment  as  awaited  her.  Madame 
Mendoza  had  visions  of  future  visits  in  Cuba  rising  before 
her  mind,  and  overwhelmed  her  daughter-in-law  with  flat 
teries  and  caresses,  which  she  received  in  the  same  passive 
silence  as  she  did  everything  else. 

For  my  own  part,  I  tried  to  keep  entirely  by  myself.  I 
remained  in  my  room  reading,  and  took  my  daily  rides,  ac 
companied  by  my  servant  —  seeing  Dolores  only  at  meal 
times,  when  I  scarcely  ventured  to  look  at  her.  One  night, 
however,  as  I  was  walking  through  a  lonely  part  of  the 
garden,  Dolores  suddenly  stepped  out  from  the  shrubbery 
and  stood  before  me.  It  was  bright  moonlight,  by  which  her 
face  and  person  were  distinctly  shown.  How  well  I  remem 
ber  her  as  she  looked  then !  She  was  dressed  in  white 
muslin,  as  she  was  fond  of  being,  but  it  had  been  torn  and 
disordered  by  the  haste  with  which  she  had  come  through 
the  shrubbery.  Her  face  was  fearfully  pale,  and  her  great 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  281 

dark  eyes  had  an  unnatural  brightness.  She  laid  hold  on 
my  arm. 

"  Look  here,"  she  said,  "  I  saw  you  and  came  down  to 
speak  with  you." 

She  panted  and  trembled,  so  that  for  some  moments  she 
could  not  speak  another  word.  "  I  want  to  ask  you,"  she 
gasped,  after  a  pause,  "  whether  I  heard  you  right  ?  Did 
you  say  "  — 

"  Yes,  Dolores,  you  did.  I  did  say  what  I  had  no  right 
to  say,  like  a  dishonorable  man." 

"  But  is  it  true  ?  Are  you  sure  it  is  true  ? "  she  said, 
scarcely  seeming  to  hear  my  words. 

"  God  knows  it  is,"  said  I  despairingly. 

"  Then  why  don't  you  save  me  ?  Why  do  you  let  them 
sell  me  to  this  dreadful  man  ?  He  don't  love  me  —  he 
never  will.  Can't  you  take  me  away  ?  " 

"  Dolores,  I  am  a  poor  man.  I  cannot  give  you  any  of 
these  splendors  your  father  desires  for  you." 

"  Do  you  think  I  care  for  them  ?  I  love  you  more  than 
all  the  world  together.  And  if  you  do  really  love  me,  why 
should  we  not  be  happy  with  each  other  ?  " 

"  Dolores,"  I  said,  with  a  last  effort  to  keep  calm,  "  I  am 
much  older  than  you,  and  know  the  world,  and  ought  not  to 
take  advantage  of  y,our  simplicity.  You  have  been  so  ac 
customed  to  abundant  wealth  and  all  it  can  give,  that  you 
cannot  form  an  idea  of  what  the  hardships  and  discomforts 
of  marrying  a  poor  man  would  be.  You  are  unused  to  hav 
ing  the  least  care,  or  making  the  least  exertion  for  yourself. 
All  the  world  would  say  that  I  acted  a  very  dishonorable 
part  to  take  you  from  a  position  which  offers  you  wealth, 
splendor,  and  ease,  to  one  of  comparative  hardship.  Per 
haps  some  day  you  would  think  so  yourself." 


282  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

"While  I  was  speaking,  Dolores  turned  me  toward  the 
moonlight,  and  fixed  her  great  dark  eyes  piercingly  upon 
me,  as  if  she  wanted  to  read  my  soul.  "  Is  that  all  ?  "  she 
said  ;  "  is  that  the  only  reason  ?  " 

"  I  do  not  understand  you,"  said  I. 

She  gave  me  such  a  desolate  look,  and  answered  in  a  tone 
of  utter  dejection,  "  Oh,  I  did  n't  know,  but  perhaps  you 
might  not  want  me.  All  the  rest  are  so  glad  to  sell  me  to 
anybody  that  will  take  me.  Bat  you  really  do  love  me, 
don't  you  ?  "  she  added,  laying  her  hand  on  mine. 

What  answer  I  made  I  cannot  say.  I  only  know  that 
every  vestige  of  what  is  called  reason  and  common  sense 
left  me  at  that  moment,  and  that  there  followed  an  hour  of 
delirium  in  which  I  —  we  both  were  very  happy  —  we  for 
got  everything  but  each  other,  and  we  arranged  all  our 
plans  for  flight.  There  was  fortunately  a  ship  lying  in  the 
harbor  of  St.  Augustine,  the  captain  of  which  was  known 
to  me.  In  course  of  a  day  or  two  passage  was  taken,  and 
my  effects  transported  on  board.  Nobody  seemed  to  suspect 
us.  Everything  went  on  quietly  up  to  the  day  before  that 
appointed  for  sailing.  I  took  my  usual  rides,  and  did 
everything  as  much  as  possible  in  my  ordinary  way,  to  dis 
arm  suspicion,  and  none  seemed  to  exist.  The  needed  prepa 
rations  went  gayly  forward.  On  the  day  I  mentioned,  when  I 
had  ridden  some  distance  from  the  house,  a  messenger  came 
post-haste  after  me.  It  was  a  boy  who  belonged  specially  to 
Dolores.  He  gave  me  a  little  hurried  note.  I  copy  it :  — 

"  Papa  has  found  all  out,  and  it  is  dreadful.  No  one  else 
knows,  and  he  means  to  kill  you  when  you  come  back.  Do, 
if  you  love  me,  hurry  and  get  on  board  the  ship.  I  shall 
never  get  over  it,  if  evil  comes  on  you  for  my  sake.  I  shall 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  283 

let  them  do  what  they  please  with  me,  if  God  will  only  save 
you.  I  will  try  to  be  good.  Perhaps  if  I  bear  my  trials 
well,  he  will  let  me  die  soon.  That  is  all  I  ask.  I  love 
you,  and  always  shall,  to  death  and  after.  DOLORES." 

There  was  the  end  of  it  all.  I  escaped  on  the  ship.  I 
read  the  marriage  in  the  paper.  Incidentally  I  afterwards 
heard  of  her  as  living  in  Cuba,  but  I  never  saw  her  again 
till  I  saw  her  in  her  coffin.  Sorrow  and  death  had  changed 
her  so  much  that-  at  first  the  sight  of  her  awakened  only  a 
vague,  painful  remembrance.  The  sight  of  the  hair  bracelet 
which  I  had  seen  on  her  arm  brought  all  back,  and  I  felt 
sure  that  my  poor  Dolores  had  strangely  come  to  sleep  her 
last  sleep  near  me. 

Immediately  after  I  became  satisfied  who  you  were,  I  felt 
a  painful  degree  of  responsibility  for  the  knowledge.  I 
wrote  at  once  to  a  friend  of  mine  in  the  neighborhood  of  St. 
Augustine,  to  find  out  any  particulars  of  the  Mendoza  family. 
I  learned  that  its  history  had  been  like  that  of  many  others 
in  that  region.  Don  Jose  had  died  in  a  bilious  fever, 
brought  on  by  excessive  dissipation,  and  at  his  death  the 
estate  was  found  to  be  so  incumbered  that  the  whole  was 
sold  at  auction.  The  slaves  were  scattered  hither  and 
thither  to  different  owners,  and  Madame  Mendoza,  with 
her  children  and  remains  of  fortune,  had  gone  to  live  in 
New  Orleans. 

Of  Dolores  he  had  heard  but  once  since  her  marriage.  A 
friend  had  visited  Don  Guzman's  estates  in  Cuba.  He  was 
living  in  great  splendor,  but  bore  the  character  of  a  hard, 
cruel,  tyrannical  master,  and  an  overbearing  man.  His 
wife  was  spoken  of  as  being  in  very  delicate  health,  —  avoid 
ing  society  and  devoting  herself  to  religion. 


284  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

I  would  here  take  occasion  to  say  that  it  was  understood 
when  I  went  into  the  family  of  Don  Jose,  that  I  should  not 
in  any  way  interfere  with  the  religious  faith  of  the  children, 
the  family  being  understood  to  belong  to  the  Roman  Cath 
olic  Church.  There  was  so  little  like  religion  of  any  kind 
in  the  family,  that  the  idea  of  their  belonging  to  any  faith 
savored  something  of  the  ludicrous.  In  the  case  of  poor 
Dolores,  however,  it  was  different.  The  earnestness  of  her 
nature  would  always  have  made  any  religious  form  a  reality 
to  her.  In  her  case  I  was  glad  to  remember  that  the  Rom 
ish  Church,  amid  many  corruptions,  preserves  all  the  es 
sential  beliefs  necessary  for  our  salvation,  and  that  many 
holy  souls  have  gone  to  heaven  through  its  doors.  I  there 
fore  was  only  careful  to  direct  her  principal  attention  to  the 
more  spiritual  parts  of  her  own  faith,  and  to  dwell  on  the 
great  themes  which  all  Christian  people  hold  in  common. 

Many  of  my  persuasion  would  not  have  felt  free  to  do 
this,  but  my  liberty  of  conscience  in  this  respect  was  perfect. 
I  have  seen  that  if  you  break  the  cup  out  of  which  a  soul 
has  been  used  to  take  the  wine  of  the  gospel,  you  often 
spill  the  very  wine  itself.  And  after  all,  these  forms  are 
but  shadows  of  which  the  substance  is  Christ. 

I  am  free  to  say,  therefore,  that  the  thought  that  your 
poor  mother  was  devoting  herself  earnestly  to  religion,  al 
though  after  the  forms  of  a  church  with  which  I  differ,  was 
to  me  a  source  of  great  consolation,  because  I  knew  that  in 
that  way  alone  could  a  soul  like  hers  find  peace. 

I  have  never  rested  from  my  efforts  to  obtain  more  infor 
mation.  A  short  time  before  the  incident  which  cast  you 
upon  our  shore,  I  conversed  with  a  sea-captain  who  had 
returned  from  Cuba.  He  stated  that  there  had  been  an 
attempt  at  insurrection  among  the  slaves  of  Don  Guzman, 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  285 

in  which  a  large  part  of  the  buildings  and  out-houses  of  the 
estate  had  been  consumed  by  fire. 

On  subsequent  inquiry  I  learned  that  Don  Guzman  had 
sold  his  estates  and  embarked  for  Boston  with  his  wife  and 
family,  and  that  nothing  had  subsequently  been  heard  of 
him. 

Thus,  my  young  friend,  I  have  told  you  all  that  I  know 
of  those  singular  circumstances  which  have  cast  your  lot  on 
our  shores.  I  do  not  expect  that  at  your  time  of  life  you 
will  take  the  same  view  of  this  event  that  I  do.  You  may 
possibly  —  very  probably  will  —  consider  it  a  loss  not  to 
have  been  brought  up  as  you  might  have  been  in  the  splen 
did  establishment  of  Don  Guzman,  and  found  yourself  heir 
to  wealth  and  pleasure  without  labor  or  exertion.  Yet  I  am 
quite  sure  in  that  case  that  your  value  as  a  human  being 
would  have  been  immeasurably  less.  I  think  I  have  seen 
in  you  the  elements  of  passions,  which  luxury  and  idleness 
and  the  too  early  possession  of  irresponsible  power,  might 
have  developed  with  fatal  results.  You  have  simply  to 
reflect  whether  you  would  rather  be  an  energetic,  intelligent, 
self-controlled  man,  capable  of  guiding  the  affairs  of  life  and 
of  acquiring  its  prizes,  —  or  to  be  the  reverse  of  all  this, 
with  its  prizes  bought  for  you  by  the  wealth  of  parents. 

I  hope  mature  reflection  will  teach  you  to  regard  with 
gratitude  that  disposition  of  the  All- Wise,  which  cast  your 
lot  as  it  has  been  cast. 

Let  me  ask  one  thing  in  closing.  I  have  written  for  you 
here  many  things  most  painful  for  me  to  remember,  because 
I  wanted  you  to  love  and  honor  the  memory  of  your  mother. 
I  wanted  that  her  memory  should  have  something  such  a 
charm  for  you  as  it  has  for  me.  With  me,  her  image  has 
always  stood  between  me  and  all  other  women  ;  but  I  have 


286  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

never  even  intimated  to  a  living  being  that  such  a  passage 
in  my  history  ever  occurred,  —  no,  not  even  to  my  sister, 
who  is  nearer  to  me  than  any  other  earthly  creature. 

In  some  respects  I  am  a  singular  person  in  my  habits, 
and  having  once  written  this,  you  will  pardon  me  if  I  ob 
serve  that  it  will  never  be  agreeable  to  me  to  have  the 
subject  named  between  us.  Look  upon  me  always  as  a 
friend,  who  would  regard  nothing  as  a  hardship  by  which 
he  might  serve  the  son  of  one  so  dear. 

I  have  hesitated  whether  I  ought  to  add  one  circumstance 
more.  I  think  I  will  do  so,  trusting  to  your  good  sense  not 
to  give  it  any  undue  weight. 

I  have  never  ceased  making  inquiries  in  Cuba,  as  I  found 
opportunity,  in  regard  to  your  father's  property,  and  late 
investigations  have  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  he  left  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  in  the  hands  of  a  notary,  whose 
address  I  have,  which,  if  your  identity  could  be  proved, 
would  come  in  course  of  law  to  you.  I  have  written  an 
account  of  all  the  circumstances  which,  in  my  view,  identify 
you  as  the  son  of  Don  Guzman  de  Cardona,  and  had  them 
properly  attested  in  legal  form. 

This,  together  with  your  mother's  picture  and  the  bracelet, 
I  recommend  you  to  take  on  your  next  voyage,  and  to  see 
what  may  result  from  the  attempt.  How  considerable  the 
sum  may  be  which  will  result  from  this,  I  cannot  say,  but  as 
Don  Guzman's  fortune  was  very  large,  I  am  in  hopes  it  may 
prove  something  worth  attention. 

At  any  time  you  may  wish  to  call,  I  will  have  all  these 
things  ready  for  you. 

I  am,  with  warm  regard, 

Your  sincere  friend, 

THEOPHILUS  SEWELL. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  287 

When  Moses  had  finished  reading  this  letter,  he  laid  it 
down  on  the  pebbles  beside  him,  and,  leaning  back  against  a 
rock,  looked  moodily  out  to  sea.  The  tide  had  washed  quite 
up  to  within  a  short  distance  of  his  feet,  completely  isolating 
the  little  grotto  where  he  sat  from  all  the  surrounding 
scenery,  and  before  him,  passing  and  repassing  on  the  blue 
bright  solitude  of  the  sea,  were  silent  ships,  going  on  their 
wondrous  pathless  ways  to  unknown  lands.  The  letter  had 
stirred  all  within  him  that  was  dreamy  and  poetic :  he  felt 
somehow  like  a  leaf  torn  from  a  romance,  and  blown 
strangely  into  the  hollow  of  those  rocks.  Something  too  of 
ambition  and  pride  stirred  within  him.  He  had  been  born 
an  heir  of  wealth  and  power,  little  as  they  had  done  for  the 
happiness  of  his  poor  mother ;  and  when  he  thought  he 
might  have  had  these  two  wild  horses  which  have  run  away 
with  so  many  young  men,  he  felt,  as  young  men  all  do,  an 
impetuous  desire  for  their  possession,  and  he  thought  as  so 
many  do,  "  Give  them  to  me,  and  I  '11  risk  my  character,  — 
I  '11  risk  my  happiness." 

The  letter  opened  a  future  before  him  which  was  some 
thing  to  speculate  upon,  even  though  his  reason  told  him  it 
was  uncertain,  and  he  lay  there  dreamily  piling  one  air- 
castle  on  another,  —  unsubstantial  as  the  great  islands  of 
white  cloud  that  sailed  though  the  sky  and  dropped  their 
shadows  in  the  blue  sea. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  he  bethought  him  he 
must  return  home,  and  so  climbing  from  rock  to  rock  he 
swung  himself  upward  on  to  the  island,  and  sought  the 
brown  cottage. 

As  he  passed  by  the  open  window  he  caught  a  glimpse  of 
Mara  sewing.  He  walked  softly  up  to  look  in  without  her 

seeing  him.  /  She  was  sitting  with  the  various  articles  of  his 

LX 


288  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

wardrobe  around  her,  quietly  and  deftly  mending  his  linen, 
singing  soft  snatches  of  an  old  psalm-tune. 

She  seemed  to  have  resumed  quite  naturally  that  quiet 
care  of  him  and  his,  which  she  had  in  all  the  earlier  years 
of  their  life.  He  noticed  again  her  little  hands,  —  they 
seemed  a  sort  of  wonder  to  him.  Why  had  he  never  seen, 
when  a  boy,  how  pretty  they  were  ?  And  she  had  such 
dainty  little  ways  of  taking  up  and  putting  down  things  as 
she  measured  and  clipped ;  it  seemed  so  pleasant  to  have  her 
handling  his  things  ;  it  was  as  if  a  good  fairy  were  touching 
them,  whose  touch  brought  back  peace.  But  then,  he  thought, 
by  and  by  she  will  do  all  this  for  some  one  else.  The 
thought  made  him  angry.  He  really  felt  abused  in  antici 
pation.  She  was  doing  all  this  for  him  just  in  sisterly  kind 
ness,  and  likely  as  not  thinking  of  somebody  else  whom  she 
loved  better  all  the  time.  It  is  astonishing  how  cool  and 
dignified  this  consideration  made  our  hero  as  he  faced  up  to 
the  window.  He  was,  after  all,  in  hopes  she  might  blush, 
and  look  agitated  at  seeing  him  suddenly ;  but  she  did  not. 
The  foolish  boy  did  not  know  the  quick  wits  of  a  girl,  and 
that  all  the  while  that  he  had  supposed  himself  so  sly,  and 
been  holding  his  breath  to  observe,  Mara  had  been  perfectly 
cognizant  of  his  presence,  and  had  been  schooling  herself 
to  look  as  unconscious  and  natural  as  possible.  So  she 
did,  —  only  saying,  — 

"  Oh,  Moses,  is  that  you  ?  "Where  have  you  been  all 
day  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  went  over  to  see  Parson  Sewell,  and  get  my  pas 
toral  lecture,  you  know." 

"  And  did  you  stay  to  dinner  ?  " 

"  No ;  I  came  home  and  went  rambling  round  the  rocks, 
and  got  into  our  old  cave,  and  never  knew  how  the  time 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  289 

"  Why,  then  you  've  had  no  dinner,  poor  boy,"  said  Mara, 
rising  suddenly.  "  Come  in  quick,  you  must  be  fed  or  you  '11 
get  dangerous  and  eat  somebody." 

"  No,  no,  don't  get  anything,"  said  Moses,  "  it 's  almost 
supper-time,  and  I'm  not  hungry." 

And  Moses  threw  himself  into  a  chair,  and  began  ab 
stractedly  snipping  a  piece  of  tape  with  Mara's  very  best 
scissors. 

"  If  you  please,  sir,  don't  demolish  that ;  I  was  going  to 
stay  one  of  your  collars  with  it,"  said  Mara. 

"  Oh,  hang  it,  I  'm  always  in  mischief  among  girls' 
things,"  said  Moses,  putting  down  the  scissors  and  picking 
up  a  bit  of  white  wax,  which  with  equal  unconsciousness, 
he  began  kneading  in  his  hands,  while  he  was  dreaming 
over  the  strange  contents  of  the  morning's  letter. 

"  I  hope  Mr.  Sewell  did  n't  say  anything  to  make  you 
look  so  very  gloomy,"  said  Mara. 

"  Mr.  Sewell  ?  "  said  Moses,  starting  ;  "  no,  he  did  n't ; 
in  fact,  I  had  a  pleasant  call  there  ;  and  there  was  that  con 
founded  old  sphinx  of  a  Miss  Roxy  there.  Why  don't  she 
die  ?  She  must  be  somewhere  near  a  hundred  years  old  by 
this  time." 

"  Never  thought  to  ask  her  why  she  did  n't  die,"  said 
Mara  ;  "  but  I  presume  she  has  the  best  of  reasons  for 
living." 

"  Yes,  that 's  so,"  said  Moses ;  "  every  old  toadstool,  and 
burdock,  and  mullein  lives  and  thrives  and  lasts ;  no  danger 
of  their  dying." 

"You  seem  to  be  in  a  charitable  frame  of  mind,"  said 
Mara. 

"  Confound  it  all !  I  hate  this  world.  If  I  could  have  my 
own  way  now,  —  if  I  could  have  just  what  I  wanted,  and 
13 


290  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

do  just  as  I  please  exactly,  I  might  make  a  pretty  good 
thing  of  it." 

"  And  pray  what  would  you  have  ?  "  said  Mara. 

"Well,  in  the  first  place,  riches." 

"  In  the  first  place  ?  " 

"  Yes,  in  the  first  place,  I  say ;  for  money  buys  everything 
else." 

"Well,  supposing  so,"  said  Mara,  "for  argument's  sake, 
what  would  you  buy  with  it  ?  " 

"  Position  in  society,  respect,  consideration,  —  and  I  'd 
have  a  splendid  place,  with  everything  elegant.  I  have 
ideas  enough,  only  give  me  the  means.  And  then  I  'd  have 
a  wife,  of  course." 

"  And  how  much  would  you  pay  for  her  ?  "  said  Mara, 
looking  quite  cool. 

"I'd  buy  her  with  all  the  rest,  —  a  girl  that  wouldn't 
look  at  me  as  I  am,  —  would  take  me  for  all  the  rest,  you 
know,  —  that's  the  way  of  the  world." 

"It  is,  is  it?"  said  Mara.  "I  don't  understand  such 
matters  much." 

"  Yes ;  it 's  the  way  with  all  you  girls,"  said  Moses  ;  "  it 's 
the  way  you  '11  marry  when  you  do." 

"  Don't  be  so  fierce  about  it.  I  have  n't  done  it  yet," 
said  Mara ;  "  but  now,  really,  I  must  go  and  set  the  supper- 
table  when  I  have  put  these  things  away,"  —  and  Mara 
gathered  an  armful  of  things  together,  and  tripped  singing 
up-stairs,  and  arranged  them  in  the  drawer  of  Moses'  room. 
"  Will  his  wife  like  to  do  all  these  little  things  for  him  as  I 
do  ? "  she  thought.  "  It 's  natural  I  should.  I  grew  up 
with  him,  and  love  him,  just  as  if  he  were  my  own  brother, 
—  he  is  all  the  brother  I  ever  had.  I  love  him  more  than 
anything  else  in  the  world,  and  this  wife  he  talks  about 
could  do  no  more." 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S  ISLAND.  291 

"  She  don't  care  a  pin  about  me,"  thought  Moses ;  "  it 's 
only  a  habit  she  has  got,  and  her  strict  notions  of  duty, 
that 's  all.  !  She  is  housewifely  in  her  instincts,  and  seizes 
*all  neglected  linen  and  garments  as  her  lawful  prey,  —  she 
would  do  it  just  the  same  for  her  grandfather ; "  j  and  Moses 
drummed  moodily  on  the  window-pane. 


292  THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE  timbers  of  the  ship  which  was  to  carry  the  fortunes 
of  our  hero  were  laid  by  the  side  of  Middle  Bay,  and 
all  these  romantic  shores  could  hardly  present  a  lovelier 
scene. 

This  beautiful  sheet  of  water  separates  Harpswell  from 
a  portion  of  Brunswick.  Its  shores  are  rocky  and  pine- 
crowned,  and  display  the  most  picturesque  variety  of  out 
line.  Eagle  Island,  Shelter  Island,  and  one  or  two  smaller 
ones,  lie  on  the  glassy  surface  like  soft  clouds  of  green 
foliage  pierced  through  by  the  steel-blue  tops  of  arrowy 
pine-trees. 

There  were  a  goodly  number  of  shareholders  in  the  pro 
jected  vessel ;  some  among  the  most  substantial  men  in  the 
vicinity.  Zephaniah  Fennel  had  invested  there  quite  a  solid 
sum,  as  had  also  our  friend  Captain  Kittridge.  Moses  had 
placed  therein  the  proceeds  of  his  recent  voyage,  which 
enabled  him  to  buy  a  certain  number  of  shares,  and  he 
secretly  revolved  in  his  mind  whether  the  sum  of  money 
left  by  his  father  might  not  enable  him  to  buy  the  whole 
ship.  Then  a  few  prosperous  voyages,  and  his  fortune  was 
made ! 

He  went  into  the  business  of  building  the  new  vessel  with 
all  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  -used  when  a  boy  to  plan 
ships  and  mould  anchors.  Every  day  he  was  off  at  early 
dawn  in  his  working-clothes,  and  labored  steadily  among  the 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  293 

men  till  evening.  No  matter  how  early  he  rose,  however, 
he  always  found  that  a  good  fairy  had  been  before  him  and 
prepared  his  dinner,  daintily  sometimes  adding  thereto  a  fra 
grant  little  bunch  of  flowers.  But  when  his  boat  returned 
home  at  evening,  he  no  longer  saw  her  as  in  the  days  of 
girlhood  waiting  far  out  on  the  farthest  point  of  rock  for 
his  return.  Not  that  she  did  not  watch  for  it  and  run  out 
many  times  toward  sunset ;  but  the  moment  she  had  made 
out  that  it  was  surely  he,  she  would  run  back  into  the  house, 
and  very  likely  find  an  errand  in  her  own  room,  where  she 
would  be  so  deeply  engaged  that  it  would  be  necessary  for 
him  to  call  her  down  before  she  could  make  her  appearance. 
Then  she  came  smiling,  chatty,  always  gracious,  and  ready 
to  go  or  to  come  as  he  requested,  —  the  very  cheerfulest 
of  household  fairies,  —  but  yet  for  all  that  there  was  a  cob 
web  invisible  barrier  around  her  that  for  some  reason  or 
other  he  could  not  break  over.  It  vexed  and  perplexed 
him,  and  day  after  day  he  determined  to  whistle  it  down,  — • 
ride  over  it  rough-shod,  —  and  be  as  free  as  he  chose  with 
this  apparently  soft,  unresistant,  airy  being,  who  seemed  so 
accessible.  Why  should  n't  he  kiss  her  when  he  chose,  and 
sit  with  his  arm  around  her  waist,  and  draw  her  familiarly 
upon  his  keee,  —  this  little  child-woman,  who  was  as  a  sister 
to  him  ?  Why,  to  be  sure  ?  Had  she  ever  frowned  or 
scolded  as  Sally  Kittridge  did  when  he  attempted  to  pass 
the  air-line  that  divides  man  from  womanhood  ?  Not  at  all. 
She  had  neither  blushed  nor  laughed,  nor  ran  away.  If  he 
kissed  her,  she  took  it  with  the  most  matter-of-fact  compo 
sure  ;  if  he  passed  his  arm  around  her,  she  let  it  remain 
with  unmoved  calmness ;  and  so  somehow  he  did  these 
things  less  and  less,  and  wondered  why. 

The  fact  is,  our  hero  had  begun  an  experiment  with  his 


294  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

little  friend   that  we  would  never  advise  a   young  man  to 

try   on    one    of   these    intense,   quiet,    soft-seeming  women, 

i    whose  whole  life  is  inward.     He  had  determined  to  find  out 

\    whether  she  loved  him  before  he  committed  himself  to  her ; 

and  the  strength  of  a  whole  book  of  martyrs  is  in  women 

to  endure  and   to  bear  without  flinching  before   they  will 

surrender  the  gate  of  this   citadel   of  silence.     Moreover, 

our   hero    had    begun    his    siege  with   precisely  the   worst 

weapons. 

For  on  the  night  that  he  returned  and  found  Mara  con 
versing  with  a  stranger,  the  suspicion  arose  in  his  mind 
that  somehow  Mara  might  be  particularly  interested  in 
him,  —  and  instead  of  asking  her,  which  anybody  might 
consider  the  most  feasible  step  in  the  case,  he  asked  Sally 
Kittridge. 

Sally's  inborn,  inherent  love  of  teasing  was  up  in  a 
moment. 

Did  she  know  anything  of  that  Mr.  Adams  ?  Of  course 
she  did,  —  a  young  lawyer  of  one  of  the  best  Boston  fam 
ilies,  —  a  splendid  fellow,  —  she  wished  any  such  luck  might 
happen  to  her  !  Was  Mara  engaged  to  him?  —  What  would 
he  give  to  know  ?  —  Why  did  n't  he  ask  Mara  ?  —  Did  he 
expect  her  to  reveal  her  friend's  secrets  ?  Well,  she 
should  n't,  —  report  said  Mr.  Adams  was  well  to  do  in  the 
world,  and  had  expectations  from  an  uncle,  —  and  did  n't 
Moses  think  he  was  interesting  in  conversation  ?  Every 
body  said  what  a  conquest  it  was  for  an  Orr's  Island  girl, 
etc.,  etc.  And  Sally  said  the  rest  with  many  a  malicious 
toss  and  wink  and  sly  twinkle  of  the  dimples  of  her  cheek, 
which  might  mean  more  or  less  as  a  young  man  of  imag 
inative  temperament  was  disposed  to  view  it.  Now  this 
was  all  done  in  pure,  simple  love  of  teasing.  We  incline 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  295 

to  think  phrenologists  have  as  yet  been  very  incomplete  in 
their  classification  of  faculties,  or  they  would  have  ap 
pointed  a  separate  organ  for  this  propensity  of  human  na 
ture.  Certain  persons,  often  the  most  kind-hearted  in  the 
world,  and  who  would  not  give  pain  in  any  serious  matter, 
seem  to  have  an  insatiable  appetite  for  those  small  annoy 
ances  we  commonly  denominate  teasing,  —  and  Sally  was 
one  of  this  number. 

She  diverted  herself  infinitely  in  playing  upon  the  excit 
ability  of  Moses,  —  in  awaking  his  curiosity,  and  baffling 
it,  and  tormenting  him  with  a  whole  phantasmagoria  of 
suggestions  and  assertions,  which  played  along  so  near  the 
line  of  probability,  that  one  could  never  tell  which  might  be 
fancy  and  which  might  be  fact. 

Moses  therefore  pursued  the  line  of  tactics  for  such  cases 
made  and  provided,  and  strove  to  awaken  jealousy  in  Mara 
by  paying  marked  and  violent  attentions  to  Sally.  He  went 
there  evening  after  evening,  leaving  Mara  to  sit  alone  at 
home.  He  made  secrets  with  her,  and  alluded  to  them  be 
fore  Mara.  He  proposed  calling  his  new  vessel  the  Sally 
Kittridge  ;  but  whether  all  these  things  made  Mara  jealous 
or  not,  he  could  never  determine.-  Mara  had  no  peculiar 
gift  for  acting,  except  in  this  one  point ;  but  here  all  the 
vitality  of  nature  rallied  to  her  support,  and  enabled  her 
to  preserve  an  air  of  the  most  unperceiving  serenity.  If 
she  shed  any  tears  when  she  spent  a  long,  lonesome  even 
ing,  she  was  quite  particular  to  be  looking  in  a  very  placid 
frame  when  Moses  returned,  and  to  give  such  an  account 
of  the  books,  or  the  work,  or  paintings  which  had  interested 
her,  that  Moses  was  sure  to  be  vexed.  Never  were  her 
inquiries  for  Sally  more  cordial,  —  never  did  she  seem  in 
spired  by  a  more  ardent  affection  for  her. 


296  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  result  of  this  state  of 
things  in  regard  to  Mara,  it  is  certain  that  Moses  succeeded 
in  convincing  the  common  fame  of  that  district  that  he  and 
Sally  were  destined  for  each  other,  and  the  thing  was  reg 
ularly  discussed  at  quilting  frolics  and  tea-drinkings  around, 
much  to  Miss  Emily's  disgust  and  Aunt  Roxy's  grave  sat 
isfaction,  who  declared  that  "  Mara  was  altogether  too  good 
for  Moses  Fennel,  but  Sally  Kittridge  would  make  him 
stand  round,"  —  by  which  expression  she  was  understood 
to  intimate  that  Sally  had  in  her  the  rudiments  of  the  same 
kind  of  domestic  discipline  which  had  operated  so  favorably 
in  the  case  of  Captain  Kittridge. 

These  things,  of  course,  had  come  to  Mara's  ears.  She 
had  overheard  the  discussions  on  Sunday  noons  as  the  peo 
ple  between  meetings  sat  over  their  doughnuts  and  cheese, 
and  analyzed  their  neighbors'  affairs,  and  she  seemed  to 
smile  at  them  all.  Sally  only  laughed,  and  declared  that 
it  was  no  such  thing ;  that  she  would  no  more  marry  Moses 
Fennel  or  any  other  fellow  than  she  would  put  her  head 
into  the  fire.  What  did  she  want  of  any  of  them  ?  She 
knew  too  much  to  get  married,  —  that  she  did.  She  was 
going  to  have  her  liberty  for  one  while  yet  to  come,  etc., 
etc. ;  but  all  these  assertions  were  of  course  supposed  to 
mean  nothing  but  the  usual  declarations  in  such  cases. 
Mara  among  the  rest  thought  it  quite  likely  that  this  thing 
was  yet  to  be. 

So  she  struggled  and  tried  to  reason  down  a  pain  which 
constantly  ached  in  her  heart  when  she  thought  of  this. 
She  ought  to  have  foreseen  that  it  must  some  time  end  in 
this  way.  Of  course  she  must  have  known  that  Moses 
would  some  time  choose  a  wife ;  and  how  fortunate  that, 
instead  of  a  stranger,  he  had  chosen  her  most  intimate 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  297 

friend.  Sally  was  careless  and  thoughtless,  to  be  sure,  but 
she  had  a  good  generous  heart  at  the  bottom,  and  she  hoped 
she  would  love  Moses  at  least  as  well  as  she  did,  and  then 
she  would  always  live  with  them,  and  think  of  any  little 
things  that  Sally  might  forget. 

After  all,  Sally  was  so  much  more  capable  and  efficient  a 
person  than  herself,  —  so  much  more  bustling  and  energetic, 
she  would  make  altogether  a  better  house-keeper,  and  doubt 
less  a  better  wife  for  Moses. 

But  then  it  was  so  hard  that  he  did  not  tell  her  about 
it.  Was  she  not  his  sister  ?  —  his  confidant  for  all  his 
childhood  ?  —  and  why  should  he  shut  up  his  heart  from 
her  now  ?  But  then  she  must  guard  herself  from  being 
jealous,  —  that  would  be  mean  and  wicked.  So  Mara,  in 
her  zeal  of  self-discipline,  pushed  on  matters  ;  invited  Sally 
to  tea  to  meet  Moses ;  and  when  she  came,  left  them  alone 
together  while  she  busied  herself  in  hospitable  cares.  She 
sent  Moses  with  errands  and  commissions  to  Sally,  which 
he  was  sure  to  improve  into  protracted  visits  ;  and  in  short, 
no  young  match-maker  ever  showed  more  good-will  to  for 
ward  the  union  of  two  chosen  friends  than  Mara  showed  to 
unite  Moses  and  Sally. 

So  the  flirtation  went  on  all  summer,  like  a  ship  under 
full  sail,  with  prosperous  breezes  ;  and  Mara,  in  the  many 
hours  that  her  two  best  friends  were  together,  tried  heroi 
cally  to  persuade  herself  that  she  was  not  unhappy.  She 
said  to  herself  constantly  that  she  never  had  loved  Moses 
other  than  as  a  brother,  and  repeated  and  dwelt  upon  the 
fact  to  her  own  mind  with  a  pertinacity  which  might  have 
led  her  to  suspect  the  reality  of  the  fact,  had  she  had  ex 
perience  enough  to  look  closer.  True,  it  was  rather  lonely, 
she  said,  but  that  she  was  used  to,  —  she  always  had  been 
13* 


298  THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND. 


and  always  should  be.  Nobody  would  ever  love  her  in 
return  as  she  loved;  which  sentence  she  did  not  analyze 
very  closely,  or  she  might  have  remembered  Mr.  Adams 
and  one  or  two  others,  who  had  professed  more  for  her 
than  she  had  found  herself  able  to  return.  That  general 
proposition  about  nobody  is  commonly  found,  if  sifted  to 
the  bottom,  to  have  specific  relation  to  somebody  whose  name 
never  appears  in  the  record. 

Nobody  could  have  conjectured  from  Mara's  calm,  gen 
tle  cheerfulness  of  demeanor,  that  any  sorrow  lay  at  the 
bottom  of  her  heart ;  she  would  not  have  owned  it  to 
herself. 

There  are  griefs  which  grow  with  years,  which  have  no 
marked  beginnings,  —  no  especial  dates;  they  are  not  events, 
but  slow  perceptions  of  disappointment,  which  bear  down  on 
the  heart  with  a  constant  and  equable  pressure  like  the 
weight  of  the  atmosphere,  and  these  things  are  never  named 
or  counted  in  words  among  life's  sorrows ;  yet  through  them, 
as  through  an  unsuspected  inward  wound,  life,  energy,  and 
vigor,  slowly  bleed  away,  and  the  persons,  never  owning 
even  to  themselves  the  weight  of  the  pressure,  —  standing, 
|  to  all  appearance,  fair  and  cheerful,  are  still  undermined  with 
\  a  secret  wear  of  this  inner  current,  and  ready  to  fall  with  the 
first  external  pressure. 

There  are  persons  often  brought  into  near  contact  by  the 
ireiations  of  life,  and  bound  to  each  other  by  a  love  so 
close,  that  they  are  perfectly  indispensable  to  each  other, 
who  yet  act  upon  each  other  as  a  file  upon  a  diamond,  by  a 
slow  and  gradual  friction,  the  pain  of  which  is  so  equable, 
so  constantly  diffused  through  life,  as  scarcely  ever  at  any 
time  to  force  itself  upon  the  mind  as  a  reality.  \ 

Such  had  been  the  history  of  the  affection  of  Mara  for 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  299 

Moses.  It  had  been  a  deep,  inward,  concentrated  passion  < 
that  had  almost  absorbed  self-consciousness,  and  made  her 
keenly  alive  to  all  the  moody,  restless,  passionate  changes 
of  his  nature  ;  it  had  brought  with  it  that  craving  for  sym 
pathy  and  return  which  such  love  ever  will,  and  yet  it  was 
fixed  upon  a  nature  so  different  and  so  uncomprehending 
that  the  action  had  for  years  been  one  of  pain  more  than 
pleasure.  Even  now,  when  she  had  him  at  home  with  her 
and  busied  herself  with  constant  cares  for  him,  there  was 
a  sort  of  disturbing,  unquiet  element  in  the  history  of  every 
day.  The  longing  for  him  to  come  home  at  night,  —  the  wish 
that  he  would  stay  with  her,  —  the  uncertainty  whether  he 
would  or  would  not  go  and  spend  the  evening  with  Sally,  — 
the  musing  during  the  day  over  all  that  he  had  done  and 
said  the  day  before,  were  a  constant  interior  excitement. 
For  Moses,  besides  being  in  his  moods  quite  variable  and 
changeable,  had  also  a  good  deal  of  the  dramatic  element 
in  him,  and  put  on  sundry  appearances  in  the  way  of  ex 
periment. 

He  would  feign  to  have  quarrelled  with  Sally,  that  he 
might  detect  whether  Mara  would  betray  some  gladness  ; 
but  she  only  evinced  concern  and  a  desire  to  make  up  the 
difficulty.  He  would  discuss  her  character  and  her  fitness 
to  make  a  man  happy  in  matrimony  in  the  style  that  young 
gentlemen  use  who  think  their  happiness  a  point  of  great 
consequence  in  the  creation  ;  and  Mara,  always  cool,  and 
firm,  and  sellable,  would  talk  with  him  in  the  most  maternal 
style  possible,  and  caution  him  against  trifling  with  her  af 
fections.  Then  again  he  would  be  lavish  in  his  praise  of 
Sally's  beauty,  vivacity,  and  energy,  and  Mara  would  join 
with  the  most  apparently  unaffected  delight.  Sometimes  he 
ventured,  on  the  other  side,  to  rally  her  on  some  future 


300  THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND. 

husband,  and  predict  the  days  when  all  the  attentions  which 
she  was  daily  bestowing  on  him  would  be  for  another ;  and 
here,  as  everywhere  else,  he  found  his  little  Sphinx  per 
fectly  inscrutable.  Instinct  teaches  the  grass-bird,  who  hides 
her  eggs  under  long  meadow  grass,  to  creep  timidly  yards 
from  the  nest,  and  then  fly  up  boldly  in  the  wrong  place  ; 
and  a  like  instinct  teaches  shy  girls  all  kinds  of  unconscious 
stratagems  when  the  one  secret  of  their  life  is  approached. 
They  may  be  as  truthful  in  all  other  things  as  the  strictest 
Puritan,  but  here  they  deceive  by  an  infallible  necessity. 
And  meanwhile  where  was  Sally  Kittridge  in  all  this  mat 
ter  ?  Was  her  heart  in  the  least  touched  by  the  black  eyes 
and  long  lashes?  Who  can  say?  Had  she  a  heart?  Well, 
Sally  was  a  good  girl.  When  one  got  sufficiently  far  down 
through  the  foam  and  froth  of  the  surface,  to  find  what  was 
in  the  depths  of  her  nature,  there  was  abundance  there  of 
good  womanly  feeling,  generous  and  strong,  if  one  could  but 
get  at  it. 

She  was  the  best  and  brightest  of  daughters  to  the  old 
Captain,  whose  accounts  she  kept,  whose  clothes  she  mended, 
whose  dinner  she  often  dressed  and  carried  to  him,  from  lov 
ing  choice ;  and  Mrs.  Kittridge  regarded  her  housewifely 
accomplishments  with  pride,  though  she  never  spoke  to  her 
otherwise  than  in  words  of  criticism  and  rebuke,  as  in  her 
view  an  honest  mother  should  who  means  to  keep  a  flourish 
ing  sprig  of  a  daughter  within  limits  of  a  proper  humility. 

But  as  for  any  sentiment  or  love  toward  any  person  of  the 
other  sex,  Sally,  as  yet,  had  it  not.  Her  numerous  admirers 
were  only  so  many  subjects  for  the  exercise  of  her  dear  de 
light  of  teasing,  and  Moses  Fennel,  the  last  and  most  con 
siderable,  differed  from  the  rest  only  in  the  fact  that  he  was 
a  match  for  her  in  this  redoubtable  art  and  science,  and  this 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S   ISLAND.  301 

made  the  game  she  was  playing  with  him  altogether  more 
stimulating  than  that  she  had  carried  on  with  any  other  of 
her  admirers.  For  Moses  could  sulk  and  storm  for  effect, 
and  clear  off  as  bright  as  Harpswell  Bay  after  a  thunder 
storm  —  for  effect  also.  Moses  could  play  jealous,  and 
make  believe  all  those  thousand-and-one  shadowy  nothings 
that  coquettes,  male  and  female,  get  up  to  carry  their  points 
with ;  and  so  their  quarrels  and  their  makings-up  were  as 
manifold  as  the  sea-breezes  that  ruffled  the  ocean  before  the 
Captain's  door. 

There  is  but  one  danger  in  play  of  this  kind,  and  that  19, 
that  deep  down  in  the  breast  of  every  slippery,  frothy,  elfish 
Undine  sleeps  the  germ  of  an  unawakened  soul,  which  sud 
denly,  in  the  course  of  some  such  trafficking  with  the  out 
ward  shows  and  seemings  of  affection,  may  wake  up  and 
make  of  the  teasing,  tricksy  elf  a  sad  and  earnest  woman  — 
a  creature  of  loves  and  self-denials  and  faithfulness  unto 
death  —  in  short,  something  altogether  too  good,  too  sacred 
to  be  trifled  with ;  and  when  a  man  enters  the  game  pro 
tected  by  a  previous  attachment  which  absorbs  all  his  nature, 
and  the  woman  awakes  in  all  her  depth  and  strength  to  feel 
the  real  meaning  of  love  and  life,  she  finds  that  she  has 
played  with  one  stronger  than  she,  at  a  terrible  disad 
vantage. 

Is  this  mine  lying  dark  and  evil  under  the  saucy  little 
feet  of  our  Sally  ?  Well,  we  should  not  of  course  be  sur 
prised  some  day  to  find  it  so. 


302  THE  PEARL  OF.  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

OCTOBER  is  come,  and  among  the  black  glooms  of  the 
pine  forests  flare  out  the  scarlet  branches  of  the  rock-maple, 
and  the  beech-groves  are  all  arrayed  in  gold,  through  which 
the  sunlight  streams  in  subdued  richness.  October  is  come 
with  long,  bright,  hazy  days,  swathing  in  purple  mists  the 
rainbow  brightness  of  the  forests,  and  blending  the  otherwise 
gaudy  and  flaunting  colors  into  wondrous  harmonies  of 
splendor.  And  Moses  Fennel's  ship  is  all  built  and  ready, 
waiting  only  a  favorable  day  for  her  launching. 

And  just  at  this  moment  Moses  is  sauntering  home  from 
Captain  Kittridge's  in  company  with  Sally,  for  Mara  has 
sent  him  to  bring  her  to  tea  with  them.  Moses  is  in  high 
spirits  ;  everything  has  succeeded  to  his  wishes  ;  and  as  the 
two  walk  along  the  high,  bold,  rocky  shore,  his  eye  glances 
out  to  the  open  ocean,  where  the  sun  is  setting,  and  the 
fresh  wind  blowing,  and  the  white  sails  flying,  and  already 
fancies  himself  a  sea-king,  commanding  his  own  palace,  and 
going  from  land  to  land. 

"  There  has  n't  been  a  more  beautiful  ship  built  here  these 
twenty  years,"  he  says,  in  triumph. 

"  Oho,  Mr.  Conceit,"  said  Sally,  "  that 's  only  because  it 's 
yours  now  —  your  geese  are  all  swans.  I  wish  you  could 
have  seen  the  Typhoon,  that  Ben  Drummond  sailed  in  —  a 
real  handsome  fellow  he  was.  What  a  pity  there  ar'  n't 
more  like  him  !  " 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.         303 

"  I  don't  enter  on  the  merits  of  Ben  Drummond's  beauty," 
said  Moses  ;  "  but  I  don't  believe  the  Typhoon  was  one 
whit  superior  to  our  ship.  Besides,  Miss  Sally,  I  thought 
you  were  going  to  take  it  under  your  especial  patronage,  and 
let  me  honor  it  with  your  name." 

"  How  absurd  you  always  will  be  talking  about  that  — 
why  don't  you  call  it  after  Mara  ? " 

"  After  Mara  ?  "  said  Moses.  "  I  don't  want  to  —  it 
wouldn't  be  appropriate  —  one  wants  a  different  kind  of 
girl  to  name  a  ship  after  —  something  bold  and  bright 
and  dashing !  " 

"  Thank  you,  sir,  but  I  prefer  not  to  have  my  bold  and 
dashing  qualities  immortalized  in  this  way,"  said  Sally ; 
"  besides,  sir,  how  do  I  know  that  you  would  n't  run  me  on  a 
rock  the  very  first  thing  ?  When  I  give  my  name  to  a  ship, 
it  must  have  an  experienced  commander,"  she  added,  mali 
ciously,  for  she  knew  that  Moses  was  specially  vulnerable 
on  this  point. 

"  As  you  please,"  said  Moses,  with  heightened  color. 
"  Allow  me  to  remark  that  he  who  shall  ever  undertake  to 
command  the  *  Sally  Kittridge '  will  have  need  of  all  his 
experience  —  and  then,  perhaps,  not  be  able  to  know  the 
ways  of  the  craft." 

"  See  him  now,"  said  Sally,  with  a  malicious  laugh ;  "  we 
are  getting  wrathy,  are  we  ?  " 

"  Not  I,"  said  Moses  ;  "  it  would  cost  altogether  too  much 
exertion  to  get  angry  at  every  teasing  thing  you  choose  to 
say,  Miss  Sally.  By  and  by  I  shall  be  gone,  and  then  won't 
your  conscience  trouble  you  ?  " 

"  My  conscience  is  all  easy,  so  far  as  you  are  concerned, 
sir ;  your  self-esteem  is  too  deep-rooted  to  suffer  much  from 
my  poor  little  nips  —  they  produce  no  more  impression  than 


304  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

a  cat-bird  pecking  at  the  cones  of  that  spruce-tree  yonder. 
Now  don't  you  put  your  hand  where  your  heart  is  supposed 
to  be  • —  there 's  nobody  at  home  there,  you  know.  There  's 
Mara  coming  to  meet  us ; "  and  Sally  bounded  forward  to 
meet  Mara  with  all  those  demonstrations  of  extreme  delight 
which  young  girls  are  fond  of  showering  on  each  other. 

"  It 's  such  a  beautiful  evening,"  said  Mara,  "  and  we  are 
all  in  such  good  spirits  about  Moses'  ship,  and  I  told  him  you 
must  come  down  and  hold  counsel  with  us  as  to  what  was  to 
be  done  about  the  launching  —  and  the  name,  you  know, 
that  is  to  be  decided  on  —  are  you  going  to  let  it  be  called 
after  you  ?  " 

"  Not  I,  indeed.  I  should  always  be  reading  in  the  papers 
of  horrible  accidents  that  had  happened  to  the  (  Sally  Kit- 
tridge.' "  W 

"  Sally  has  so  set  her  heart  on  my  being  unlucky,"  said 
Moses,  "  that  I  believe  if  I  make  a  prosperous  voyage,  the 
disappointment  would  injure  her  health." 

"  She  does  n't  mean  what  she  says,"  said  Mara ;  "  but  I 
think  there  are  some  objections  in  a  young  lady's  name 
being  given  to  a  ship." 

"  Then  I  suppose,  Mara,"  said  Moses,  "  that  you  would 
not  have  yours  either  ?  " 

"  I  would  be  glad  to  accommodate  you  in  anything  but 
that,"  said  Mara,  quietly ;  but  she  added,  "  Why  need  the 
ship  be  named  for  anybody  ?  .  A  ship  is  such  a  beautiful, 
graceful  thing,  it  should  have  a  fancy  name." 

"  Well,  suggest  one,"  said  Moses. 

"  Don't  you  remember,"  said  Mara,  "  one  Saturday  after 
noon,  when  you  and  Sally  and  I  launched  your  little  ship 
down  in  the  cove  after  you  had  come  home  from  your  first 
voyage  at  the  Banks." 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  305 

"I  do,"  said  Sally.  "We  called  that  the  Ariel,  Mara, 
after  that  old  torn  play  you  were  so  fond  of.  That 's  a 
pretty  name  for  a  ship." 

"  Why  not  take  that  ?  "  said  Mara. 

"  I  baw  to  the  decree,"  said  Moses.  "  The  Ariel  it  shall 
be." 

"  Yes  ;  and  you  remember,"  said  Sally,  "  Mr.  Moses  here 
promised  at  that  time  that  he  would  build  a  ship,  and  take 
us  two  round  the  world  with  him." 

Moses'  eyes  fell  upon  Mara  as  Sally  said  these  words 
with  a  sort  of  sudden  earnestness  of  expression  which  struck 
her.  He  was  really  feeling  very  much  about  something, 
under  all  the  bantering  disguise  of  his  demeanor,  she  said 
to  herself.  Could  it  be  that  he  felt  unhappy  about  his  pros 
pects  with  Sally  ?  That  careless  liveliness  of  hers  might 
wound  him  perhaps  now,  when  he  felt  that  he  was  soon  to 
leave  her. 

Mara  was  conscious  herself  of  a  deep  undercurrent  of 
sadness  as  the  time  approached  for  the  ship  to  sail  that 
should  carry  Moses  from  her,  and  she  could  not  but  think 
some  such  feeling  must  possess  her  mind.  In  vain  she 
looked  into  Sally's  great  Spanish  eyes  for  any  signs  of  a 
lurking  softness  or  tenderness  concealed  under  her  sparkling 
vivacity.  Sally's  eyes  were  admirable  windows  of  exactly 
the  right  size  and  color  for  an  earnest,  tender  spirit  to  look 
out  of,  but  just  now  there  was  nobody  at  the  casement  but  a 
slippery  elf  peering  out  in  tricksy  defiance. 

When  the  three  arrived  at  the  house,  tea  was  waiting  on 
the  table  for  them.  Mara  fancied  that  Moses  looked  sad 
and  preoccupied  as  they  sat  down  to  the  tea-table,  which 
Mrs.  Fennel  had  set  forth  festively,  with  the  best  china  and 
the  finest  table-cloth  and  the  choicest  sweetmeats.  In  fact, 


306  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Moses  did  feel  that  sort  of  tumult  and  upheaving  of  the  soul 
which  a  young  man  experiences  when  the  great  crisis  comes 
which  is  to  plunge  him  into  the  struggles  of  manhood.  It  is 
a  time  when  he  wants  sympathy  and  is  grated  upon  by  un 
comprehending  merriment,  and  therefore  his  answers  to 
Sally  grew  brief  and  even  harsh  at  times,  and  Mara  some 
times  perceived  him  looking  at  herself  with  a  singular  fixed 
ness  of  expression,  though  he  withdrew  his  eyes  whenever 
she  turned  hers  to  look  on  him.  Like  many  another  little 
woman,  she  had  fixed  a  theory  about  her  friends,  into  which 
she  was  steadily  interweaving  all  the  facts  she  saw.  Sally 
must  love  Moses,  because  she  had  known  her  from  child 
hood  as  a  good  and  affectionate  girl,  and  it  was  impossible 
that  she  could  have  been  going  on  with  Moses  as  she  had 
for  the  last  six  months  without  loving  him.  She  must  evi 
dently  have  seen  that  he  cared  for  her ;  and  in  how  many 
ways  had  she  shown  that  she  liked  his  society  and  him  ! 
But  then  evidently  she  did  not  understand  him,  and  Mara 
felt  a  little  womanly  self-pluming  on  the  thought  that  she 
knew  him  so  much  better.  She  was  resolved  that  she  would 
talk  with  Sally  about  it,  and  show  her  that  she  was  disap 
pointing  Moses  and  hurting  his  feelings.  Yes,  she  said  to 
herself,  Sally  has  a  kind-  heart,  and  her  coquettish  desire  to 
conceal  from  him  the  extent  of  her  affection  ought  now 
to  give  way  to  the  outspoken  tenderness  of  real  love. 

So  Mara  pressed  Sally  with  the  old-times  request  to  stay 
and  sleep  with  her ;  for  these  two,  the  only  young  girls  in  so 
lonely  a  neighborhood,  had  no  means  of  excitement  or  dissi 
pation  beyond  this  occasional  sleeping  together  —  by  which 
is  meant,  of  course,  lying  awake  all  night  talking. 

When  they  were  alone  together  in  their  chamber,  Sally 
let  down  her  long  black  hair,  and  stood  with  her  back 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  307 

• 

to  Mara  brushing  it.  Mara  sat  looking  out  of  the  win 
dow,  where  the  moon  was  making  a  wide  sheet  of  silver- 
sparkling  water.  Everything  was  so  quiet  that  the  restless 
dash  of  the  tide  could  be  plainly  heard.  Sally  was  rattling 
away  with  her  usual  gayety. 

"  And  so  the  launching  is  to  come  off  next  Thursday. 
What  shall  you  wear  ?  " 

"  1  'm  sure  I  have  n't  thought,"  said  Mara. 

"  Well,  I  shall  try  and  finish  my  blue  merino  for  the  oc 
casion.  What  fun  it  will  be  !  I  never  was  on  a  ship  when 
it  was  launched,  and  I  think  it  will  be  something  perfectly 
splendid ! " 

"  But  does  n't  it  sometimes  seem  sad  to  think  that  after  all 
this  Moses  will  leave  us  to  be  gone  so  long  ?  " 

"  What  do  I  care  ? "  said  Sally,  tossing  back  her  long 
hair  as  she  brushed  it,  and  then  stopping  to  examine  one 
of  her  eyelashes. 

"  Sally  dear,  you  often  speak  in  that  way,"  said  Mara, 
"  but  really  and  seriously,  you  do  yourself  great  injustice. 
You  could  not  certainly  have  been  going  on  as  you  have 
these  six  months  past  with  a  man  you  did  not  care  for." 

"  Well,  I  do  care  for  him,  '  sort  o','  "  said  Sally  ;  "  but  is 
that  any  reason  I  should  break  my  heart  for  his  going  ? 
—  that 's  too  much  for  any  man." 

"  But,  Sally,  you  must  know  that  Moses  loves  you." 

"  I  'm  not  so  sure,"  said  Sally,  freakishly  tossing  her  head 
and  laughing. 

"  If  he  did  not,"  said  Mara,  "  why  has  he  sought  you  so 
much,  and  taken  every  opportunity  to  be  with  you  ?  I  'm 
sure  I  've  been  left  here  alone  hour  after  hour,  when  my 
only  comfort  was  that  it  was  because  my  two  best  friends 
loved  each  other,  as  I  know  they  must  some  time  love  some 
one  better  than  they  do  me." 


308  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

The  most  practised  self-control  must  fail  some  time,  and 
Mara's  voice  faltered  on  these  last  words,  and  she  put  her 
hands  over  her  eyes.  Sally  turned  quickly  and  looked  at 
her,  then  giving  her  hair  a  sudden  fold  round  her  shoulders, 
and  running  to  her  friend,  she  kneeled  down  on  the  floor  by 
her,  and  put  her  arms  round  her  waist,  and  looked  up  into 
her  face  with  an  air  of  more  gravity  than  she  commonly 
used. 

"  Now,  Mara,  what  a  wicked,  inconsistent  fool  I  have 
been !  Did  you  feel  lonesome  ?  —  did  you  care  ?  I  ought 
to  have  seen  that ;  but  I  'm  selfish,  I  love  admiration,  and  I 
love  to  have  some  one  to  flatter  me,  and  run  after  me  ;  and 
so  I  've  been  going  on  and  on  in  this  silly  way.  But  I 
did  n't  know  you  cared  —  indeed,  I  did  n't  —  you  are  such 
a  deep  little  thing.  Nobody  can  ever  tell  what  you  feel.  I 
never  shall  forgive  myself,  if  you  have  been  lonesome,  for 
you  are  worth  five  hundred  times  as  much  as  I  am.  You 
really  do  love  Moses.  I  don't." 

"  I  do  love  him  as  a  dear  brother,"  said  Mara. 

"  Dear  fiddlestick,"  said  Sally.  "  Love  is  love  ;  and  when 
a  person  loves  all  she  can,  it  is  n't  much  use  to  talk  so.  I  've 
been  a  wicked  sinner,  that  I  have.  Love  ?  Do  you  sup 
pose  1  would  bear  with  Moses  Fennel  all  his  ins  and  outs 
and  up  and  downs,  and  be  always  putting  him  before  myself 
in  everything,  as  you  do  ?  No,  I  could  n't ;  I  have  n't  it  in 
me  ;  but  you  have.  He  's  a  sinner,  too,  and  deserves  to  get 
me  for  a  wife.  But,  Mara,  I  have  tormented  him  well  — 
there  's  some  comfort  in  that." 

"  It 's  no  comfort  to  me,"  said  Mara.  "I  see  his  heart  is 
set  on  you  —  the  happiness  of  his  life  depends  on  you  — 
and  that  he  is  pained  and  hurt  when  you  give  him  only  cold, 
trifling  words  when  he  needs  real  true  love.  It  is  a  serious 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  309 

thing,  dear,  to  have  a  strong  man  set  his  whole  heart  on  you. 
It  will  do  him  a  great  good  or  a  great  evil,  and  you  ought  not 
to  make  light  of  it." 

"  Oh,  pshaw,  Mara,  you  don't  know  these  fellows ;  they 
are  only  playing  games  with  us.  If  they  once  catch  us, 
they  have  no  mercy ;  and  for  one  here  's  a  child  that  is  n't 
going  to  be  caught.  I  can  see  plain  enough  that  Moses 
Pennel  has  been  trying  to  get  me  in  love  with  him,  but 
he  does  n't  love  me.  No,  he  does  n't,"  said  Sally,  reflec 
tively.  "  He  only  wants  to  make  a  conquest  of  me,  and 
I'm  just  the  same.  I  want  to  make  a  conquest  of  him, — 
at  least  I  have  been  wanting  to,  —  but  now  I  see  it 's  a  false, 
wicked  kind  of  way  to  do  as  we  've  been  doing." 

"  And  is  it  really  possible,  Sally,  that  you  don'j;  love 
him  ? "  said  Mara,  her  large,  serious  eyes  looking  into 
Sally's.  "  What !  be  with  him  so  much,  —  seem  to  like 
him  so  much,  —  look  at  him  as  I  have  seen  you  do,  —  and 
not  love  him  !  " 

"  I  can't  help  my  eyes ;  they  will  look  so,"  said  Sally, 
hiding  her  face  in  Mara's  lap  with  a  sort  of  coquettish 
consciousness.  "  I  tell  you  I  've  been  silly  and  wicked ; 
but  he  's  just  the  same  exactly." 

"  And  you  have  worn  his  ring  all  summer  ?  " 

"  Yes,  and  he  has  worn  mine ;  and  I  have  a  lock  of  his 
hair,  and  he  has  a  lock  of  mine  ;  yet  I  don't  believe  he  cares 
for  them  a  bit.  Oh,  his  heart  is  safe  enough.  If  he  has 
any,  it  is  n't  with  me  :  that  I  know." 

"  But  if  you  found  it  were,  Sally  ?  Suppose  you  found 
that,  after  all,  you  were  the  one  love  and  hope  of  his  life ; 
that  all  he  was  doing  and  thinking  was  for  you ;  that  he  was 
laboring,  and  toiling,  and  leaving  home,  so  that  he  might 
some  day  offer  you  a  heart  and  home,  and  be  your  best 


310  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

friend  for  life  ?  Perhaps  he  dares  not  tell  you  how  he 
really  does  feel." 

"  It 's  no  such  thing !  it 's  no  such  thing !  "  said  Sally,  lift 
ing  up  her  head,  with  her  eyes  full  of  tears,  which  she  dashed 
angrily  away.  "  What  am  I  crying  for  ?  I  hate  him.  I  'm 
glad  he  's  going  away.  Lately  it  has  been  such  a  trouble  to 
me  to  have  things  go  on  so.  I  'm  really  getting  to  dislike 
him.  You  are  the  one  he  ought  to  love.  Perhaps  all  this 
time  you  are  the  one  he  does  love,"  said  Sally,  with  a  sudden 
energy,  as  if  a  new  thought  had  dawned  in  her  mind. 

"  Oh,  no ;  he  does  not  even  love  me  as  he  once  did,  when 
we  were  children,"  said  Mara.  "  He  is  so  shut  up  in  him 
self,  so  reserved,  I  know  nothing  about  what  passes  in  his 
heart." 

"  No  more  does  anybody,"  said  Sally.  "  Moses  Pennel 
is  n't  one  that  says  and  does  things  straightforward  be 
cause  he  feels  so ;  but  he  says  and  does  them  to  see  what 
you  will  do.  That 's  his  way.  Nobody  knows  why  he  has 
been  going  on  with  me  as  he  has.  He  has  had  his  -own  rea 
sons,  doubtless,  as  I  have  had  mine." 

"  He  has  admired  you  very  much,  Sally,"  said  Mara, 
"  and  praised  you  to  me  very  warmly.  He  thinks  you 
are  so  handsome.  I  could  tell  you  ever  so  many  things 
he  has  said  about  you.  He  knows  as  I  do  that  you  are  a 
more  enterprising,  practical  sort  of  body  than  I  am,  too. 
Everybody  thinks  you  are  engaged.  I  have  heard  it  spoken 
of  everywhere." 

"  Everybody  is  mistaken,  then,  as  usual,"  said  Sally. 
"  Perhaps  Aunt  Roxy  was  in  the  right  of  it  when  she 
said  that  Moses  would  never  be  in  love  with  anybody 
but  himself." 

"Aunt  Roxy  has  always  been  prejudiced  and  unjust  to 


THE  PEARL  OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  311 

Moses,"  said  Mara,  her  cheeks  flushing.  "  She  never  liked 
him  from  a  child,  and  she  never  can  be  made  to  see  anything 
good  in  him.  I  know  that  he  has  a  deep  heart,  —  a  nature 
that  craves  affection  and  sympathy ;  and  it  is  only  because 
he  is  so  sensitive  that  he  is  so  reserved  and  conceals  his 
feelings  so  much.  He  has  a  noble,  kind  heart,  and  I  believe 
he  truly  loves  you,  Sally  ;  it  must  be  so." 

Sally  rose  from  the  floor  and  went  on  arranging  her  hair, 
without  speaking.  Something  seemed  to  disturb  her  mind. 
Sh,e  bit  her  lip,  and  threw  down  the  brush  and  comb  violent 
ly]  In  the  clear  depths  of  the  little  square  of  looking-glass 
a  face  looked  into  hers,  whose  eyes  were  perturbed  as  if  with 
the  shadows  of  some  coming  inward  storm :  the  black  brows 
were  knit,  and  the  lips  quivered.  ]  She  drew  a  long  breath 
and  burst  out  into  a  loud  laugh. 

"  What  are  you  laughing  at  now  ?  "  said  Mara,  who  stood 
in  her  white  night-dress  by  the  window,  with  her  hair  falling 
in  golden  waves  about  her  face. 

"  Oh,  because  these  fellows  are  so  funny,"  said   Sally  ; 
"  it 's  such  fun  to  see  their  actions.     Come  now,"  she  added, 
turning  to  Mara,  "  don't  look  so  grave  and  sanctified.     It 's 
better  to  laugh  than  cry  about  things,  any  time.    It 's  a  great 
deal  better  to  be  made  hard-hearted  like  me,  and  not  care  / 
for  anybody,  than  to  be  like  you,  for  instance.     The   idea~ 
of  any  one's  being  in  love  is  the  drollest  thing  to  me.     I 
haven't  the  least  idea  how  it  feels.     I  wonder  if  I    ever 
shall  be  in  love!" 

"  It  will  come  to  you  in  its  time,  Sally." 

"  Oh  yes,  —  I  suppose  like  the  chicken-pox  or  the  whoop 
ing  cough,"  said  Sally ;  "  one  of  the  things  to  be  gone 
through  with,  and  rather  disagreeable  while  it  lasts,  —  so 
I  hope  to  put  it  off  as  long  as  possible." 


312  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

"  Well,  come,"  said  Mara,  "  we  must  not  sit  up  all  night." 

After  the  two  girls  were  nestled  into  bed  and  the  light  out, 
instead  of  the  brisk  chatter  there  fell  a  great  silence  between 
them. 

The  full  round  moon  cast  the  reflection  of  the  window  on 
the  white  bed,  and  the  ever  restless  moan  of  the  sea  became 
more  audible  in  the  fixed  stillness.  The  two  faces,  both 
young  and  fair,  yet  so  different  in  their  expression,  lay  each 
still  on  its  pillow,  —  their  wide-open  eyes  gleaming  out  in  the 
shadow  like  mystical  gems.  Each  was  breathing  softly,  as 
if  afraid  of  disturbing  the  other.  At  last  Sally  gave  an  im 
patient  movement. 

"  How  lonesome  the  sea  sounds  in  the  night,"  she  said. 
"  I  wish  it  would  ever  be  still." 

"  I  like  to  hear  it,"  said  Mara.  "  When  I  was  in  Boston, 
for  a  while  I  thought  I  could  not  sleep,  I  used  to  miss  it  so 
much." 

There  was  another  silence,  which  lasted  so  long  that  each 
girl  thought  the  other  asleep,  and  moved  softly,  but  at  a 
restless  movement  from  Sally,  Mara  spoke  again. 

"  Sally,  —  you  asleep  ?  " 

"  No,  —  I  thought  you  were." 

"  I  wanted  to  ask  you,"  said  Mara,  "  did  Moses  ever  say 
anything  to  you  about  me  ?  —  you  know  I  told  you  how 
much  he  said  about  you." 

"  Yes ;  he  asked  me  once  if  you  were  engaged  to  Mr. 
Adams." 

"  And  what  did  you  tell  him  ?  "  said  Mara,  with  increasing 
interest. 

"  Well,  I  only  plagued  him.  I  sometimes  made  him  think 
you  were,  and  sometimes  that  you  were  not ;  and  then  again, 
that  there  was  a  deep  mystery  in  hand.  But  I  praised 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  313 

and  glorified  Mr.  Adams,  and  told  him  what  a  splendid 
match  it  would  be,  and  put  on  any  little  bits  of  embroidery 
here  and  there  that  I  could  lay  hands  on.  I  used  to  make 
him  sulky  and  gloomy  for  a  whole  evening  sometimes.  In 
that  way  it  was  one  of  the  best  weapons  I  had." 

"  Sally,  what  does  make  you  love  to  tease  people  so  ?  " 
said  Mara. 

"  Why,  you  know  the  hymn  says,  — 

'  Let  dogs  delight  to  bark  and  bite, 

For  God  hath  made  them  so; 
Let  bears  and  lions  growl  and  fight, 
For  'tis  their  nature  too.' 

That 's  all  the  account  I  can  give  of  it." 

"  But,"  said  Mara,  "  I  never  can  rest  easy  a  moment 
when  I  see  I  am  making  a  person  uncomfortable." 

"  Well,  I  don't  tease  anybody  but  the  men.  I  don't  tease 
father  or  mother  or  you,  —  but  men  are  fair  game  ;  they 
are  such  thumby,  blundering  creatures,  and  we  can  confuse 
them  so." 

"  Take  care,  Sally,  it 's  playing  with  edge  tools  ;  you  may 
lose  your  heart  some  day  in  this  kind  of  game." 

"  Never  you  fear,"  said  Sally  ;  "  but  ar'  n't  you  sleepy  ?  — 
let 's  go  to  sleep." 

Both  girls  turned  their  faces  resolutely  in  opposite  direc 
tions,  and  remained  for  an  hour  with  their  large  eyes  look 
ing  out  into  the  moonlit  chamber,  liked  the  fixed  stars  over 
Harpswell  Bay.  At  last  sleep  drew  softly  down  the  fringy 
curtains. 


314  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

IN  the  plain,  simple  regions  we  are  describing,  —  where 
the  sea  is  the  great  avenue  of  active  life,  and  the  pine-forests 
are  the  great  source  of  wealth,  —  ship-building  is  an  engross 
ing  interest,  and  there  is  no  fete  that  calls  forth  the  com 
munity  like  the  launching  of  a  vessel. 

And  no  wonder  ;  for  what  is  there  belonging  to  this  work- 
a-day  world  of  ours  that  ha,s  such  a  never-failing  fund  of 
poetry  and  grace  as  a  ship  ?  A  ship  is  a  beauty  and  a  mys 
tery  wherever  we  see  it :  its  white  wings  touch  the  regions 
of  the  unknown  and  the  imaginative ;  they  seem  to  us  full 
of  the  odors  of  quaint,  strange,  foreign  shores,  where  life, 
we  fondly  dream,  moves  in  brighter  currents  than  the 
muddy,  tranquil  tides  of  every  day.  f 

Who  that  sees  one  bound  outward,  with  her  white  breasts 
swelling  and  heaving,  as  if  with  a  reaching  expectancy, 
does  not  feel  his  own  heart  swell  with  a  longing  impulse  to 
go  with  her  to  the  far-off  shores  ?  Even  at  dingy,  crowded 
wharves,  amid  the  stir  and  tumult  of  great  cities,  the  coming 
in  of  a  ship  is  an  event  that  never  can  lose  its  interest.  But 
on  these  romantic  shores  of  Maine,  where  all  is  so  wild  and 
still,  and  the  blue  sea  lies  embraced  in  the  arms  of  dark,  sol 
itary  forests, [the  sudden  incoming  of  a  ship  from  a  distant 
voyage  is  a  sort  of  romance.  Who  that  has  stood  by  the 
blue  waters  of  Middle  Bay,  engirdled  as  it  is  by  soft  slopes 
of  green  farming  land,  interchanged  here  and  there  with 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  315 

heavy  billows  of  forest-trees,  or  rocky,  pine-crowned  prom 
ontories,  has  not  felt  that  sense  of  seclusion  and  solitude 
which  is  so  delightful  ?  And  then  what  a  wonder  !  There 
comes  a  ship  from  China,  drifting  in  like  a  white  cloud,  — 
the  gallant  creature !  how  the  waters  hiss  and  foam  before 
her ;  with  what  a  great  free,  generous  plash  she  throws 
out  her  anchors,  as  if  she  said  a  cheerful  "  Well  done ! "  to 
some  glorious  work  accomplished  !  The  very  life  and  spirit 
of  strange  romantic  lands  come  with  her ;  suggestions  of 
sandal-wood  and  spice  breathe  through  the  pine-woods ;  she 
is  an  oriental  queen,  with  hands  full  of  mystical  gifts  ;  "  all 
her  garments  smell  of  myrrh  and  cassia,  out  of  the  ivory 
palaces,  whereby  they  have  made  her  glad."  No  wonder 
men  have  loved  ships  like  birds,  and  that  there  have  been 
found  brave,  rough  hearts  that  in  fatal  wrecks  chose  rather 
to  go  down  with  their  ocean  love  than  to  leave  her  in  the 
last  throes  of  her  death-agony. 

A  ship-building,  a  ship-sailing  community  has  an  uncon 
scious  poetry  ever  underlying  its  existence.  Exotic  ideas 
from  foreign  lands  relieve  the  trite  monotony  of  life  ;  the 
ship-owner  lives  in  communion  with  the  whole  world,  and  is 
less  likely  to  fall  into  the  petty  commonplaces  that  infest  the 
routine  of  inland  life. 

Never  arose  a  clearer  or  lovelier  October  morning  than 
that  which  was  to  start  the  Ariel  on  her  watery  pilgrimage. 

Moses  had  risen  while  the  stars  were  yet  twinkling  over 
their  own  images  in  Middle  Bay,  to  go  down  and  see  that 
everything  was  right ;  and  in  all  the  houses  that  we  know  in 
the  vicinity,  everybody  woke  with  the  one  thought  of  being 
ready  to  go  to  the  launching. 

Mrs.  Fennel  and  Mara  were  also  up  by  starlight,  busy 
over  the  provisions  for  the  ample  cold  collation  that  was  to 


316  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

be  spread  in  a  barn  adjoining  the  scene,  —  the  materials 
for  which  they  were  packing  into  baskets  covered  with  nice 
clean  linen  cloths,  ready  for  the  little  sail-boat  which  lay 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  door  in  the  brightening  dawn, 
her  white  sails  looking  rosy  in  the  advancing  light. 

It  had  been  agreed  that  the  Fennels  and  the  Kittridges 
should  cross  together  in  this  boat  with  their  contributions  of 
good  cheer. 

The  Kittridges,  too,  had  been  astir  with  the  dawn,  intent 
on  their  quota  of  the  festive  preparations,  in  which  Dame 
Kittridge's  housewifely  reputation  was  involved,  —  for  it  had 
been  a  disputed  point  in  the  neighborhood  whether  she  or 
Mrs.  Fennel  made  the  best  doughnuts  ;  and  of  course,  with 
i  this  fact  before  her  mind,  her  efforts  in  this  line  had  been  all 
but  superhuman. 

The  Captain  skipped  in  and  out  in  high  feather,  —  occa 
sionally  pinching  Sally's  cheek,  and  asking  if  she  were  going 
as  captain  or  mate  upon  the  vessel  after  it  was  launched,  for 
which  he  got  in  return  a  fillip  of  his  sleeve  or  a  sly  twitch 
of  his  coat-tails,  for  Sally  and  her  old  father  were  on  romp 
ing  terms  with  each  other  from  early  childhood, — a  thing 
which  drew  frequent  lectures  from  the  always  exhorting 
Mrs.  Kittridge. 

"  Such  levity  !  "  she  said,  as  she  saw  Sally  in  full  chase 
after  his  retreating  figure,  in  order  to  be  revenged  for 
some  sly  allusions  he  had  whispered  in  her  ear. 

"  Sally  Kittridge  !  Sally  Kittridge  !  "  she  called,  "  come 
back  this  minute.  What  are  you  about  ?  I  should  think 
your  father  was  old  enough  to  know  better." 

"  Lawful  sakes,  Folly,  it  kind  o'  renews  one's  youth  to  get 
a  new  ship  done,"  said  the  Captain,  skipping  in  at  another 
door.  "  Sort  o'  puts  me  in  mind  o'  that  /went  out  cap'en  in 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND.  317 

when  I  was  jist  beginning  to  court  you,  as  somebody  else  is 
courtin'  our  Sally  here." 

"  Now,  father,"  said  Sally,  threateningly,  "  what  did  I  tell 
you  ?  " 

"  It 's  really  lemancholy*  said  the  Captain,  "  to  think  how 
it  does  distress  gals  to  talk  lo  'em  'bout  the  fellers,  when 
they  a'n't  thinkin'  o'  nothin'  else  all  the  time.  They  can't 
even  laugh  without  sayin'  he-he-he  !  " 

"  Now,  father,  you  know  I  've  told  you  five  hundred  times 
that  I  don't  care  a  cent  for  Moses  Fennel,  —  that  he  's  a 
hateful  creature,"  said  Sally,  looking  very  red  and  deter 
mined. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  the  Captain,  "  I  take  that  ar  's  the  reason 
you  've  ben  a-wearin'  the  ring  he  gin  you  and  them  rib- 
bins  you  've  got  on  your  neck  this  blessed  minute,  and  why 
you  've  giggled  off  to  singin'-school,  and  Lord  knows  where 
with  him  all  summer,  —  that  ar  's  clear  now." 

"  But,  father,"  said  Sally,  getting  redder  and  more  earnest, 
"  I  don't  care  for  him  really,  and  I  've  told  him  so.  I  keep 
telling  him  so,  and  he  will  run  after  me." 

"  Haw  !  haw  !  "  laughed  the  Captain  ;  "  he  will,  will  he  ? 
Jist  so,  Sally ;  that  ar  's  jist  the  way  your  ma  there  talked 
to  me,  and  it  kind  o'  'couraged  me  along.  I  knew  that  gals 
always  has  to  be  read  back'ard  jist  like  the  writin'  in  the 
Barbary  States." 

"  Captain  Kittridge,  will  you  stop  such  ridiculous  talk  ?  " 
said  his  helpmeet;  "and  jist  carry  this  'ere  basket  of  cold 
chicken  down  to  the  landin'  agin  the  Fennels  come  round  in 
the  boat ;  and  you  must  step  spry,  for  there  's  two  more 
baskets  a-comin'." 

The  Captain  shouldered  the  basket  and  walked  toward 
the  sea  with  it,  and  Sally  retired  to  her  own  little  room 


318  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

to  hold  a  farewell  consultation  with  her  mirror  before  she 
went. 

You  will  perhaps  think  from  the  conversation  that  you 
heard  the  other  night,  that  Sally  now  will  cease  all  thought 
of  coquettish  allurement  in  her  acquaintance  with  Moses, 
and  cause  him  to  see  by  an  immediate  and  marked  change 
her  entire  indifference.  Probably,  as  she  stands  thought 
fully  before  her  mirror,  she  is  meditating  on  the  propriety 
of  laying  aside  the  ribbons  he  gave  her  —  perhaps  she  will 
alter  that  arrangement  of  her  hair  which  is  one  that  he  him 
self  particularly  dictated  as  most  becoming  to  the  character 
of  her  face.  She  opens  a  little  drawer,  which  looks  like  a 
flower-garden,  all  full  of  little  knots  of  pink  and  blue  and 
red,  and  various  fancies  of  the  toilet,  and  looks  into  it  re 
flectively.  She  looses  the  ribbon  from  her  hair  and  chooses 
another,  —  but  Moses  gave  her  that  too  and  said,  she  re 
members,  that  when  she  wore  that '"  he  should  know  she  had 
been  thinking  of  him."  Sally  is  Sally  yet  —  as  full  of  sly 
dashes  of  coquetry  as  a  tulip  is  of  streaks. 

"  There  's  no  reason  I  should  make  myself  look  like  a 
flight  because  I  don't  care  for  him,"  she  says  ;  "  besides, 
after  all  that  he  has  said,  he  ought  to  say  more,  —  he  ought 
at  least  to  give  me  a  chance  to  say  no,  —  he  shall,  too,"  said 
the  gypsy,  winking  at  the  bright,  elfish  face  in  the  glass. 

"  Sally  Kittridge,  Sally  Kittridge,"  called  her  mother, 
"  how  long  will  you  stay  prinkin'  ?  — -  come  down  this  minute." 

"  Law  now,  mother,"  said  the  Captain,  "  gals  must  prink 
afore  such  times ;  it 's  as  natural  as  for  hens  to  dress  their 
feathers  afore  a  thunder-storm." 

Sally  at  last  appeared,  all  in  a  flutter  of  ribbons  and 
scarfs,  whose  bright,  high  colors  assorted  well  with  the  ultra 
marine  blue  of  her  dress,  and  the  vivid  pomegranate  hue  of 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S  ISLAND.  319 

her  cheeks.  The  boat  with  its  white  sails  flapping  was  bal 
ancing  and  courtesying  up  and  down  on  the  waters,  and  in 
the  stern  sat  Mara ;  —  her  shining  white  straw  hat  trimmed 
with  blue  ribbons  set  off  her  golden  hair  and  pink  shell 
complexion.  The  dark,  even  pencilling  of  her  eyebrows, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  brow  above,  the  brown  translucent 
clearness  of  her  thoughtful  eyes,  made  her  face  striking  even 
with  its  extreme  delicacy  of  tone.  She  was  unusually  ani 
mated  and  excited,  and  her  cheeks  had  a  rich  bloom  of  that  ' 
pure  deep  rose-color  which  flushes  up  in  fair  complexions 
under  excitement,  and  her  eyes  had  a  kind  of  intense  ex 
pression,  for  which  they  had  always  been  remarkable.  All 
the  deep  secluded  yearning  of  repressed  nature  was  looking 
out  of  them,  giving  that  pathos  which  every  one  has  felt  at 
times  in  the  silence  of  eyes. 

"  Now  bless  that  ar  gal,"  said  the  Captain,  when  he  saw  f 
her.     "  Our  Sally  here  's  handsome,  but  she  's  got  the  real 
New-Jerusalem  look,  she  has  —  like  them  in  the  Revelations 
that  wears  the  fine  linen,  clean  and  white." 

"  Bless  you,  Captain  Kittridge  !  don't  be  a-makin'  a  fool 
of  yourself  about  no  girl  at  your  time  o'  life,"  said  Mrs. 
Kittridge,  speaking  under  her  breath  in  a  nipping,  energetic 
tone,  for  they  were  coming  too  near  the  boat  to  speak  very 
loud. 

"  Good-mornin',  Mis'  Fennel ;  we  've  got  a  good  day,  and 
a  mercy  it  is  so.  'Member  when  we  launched  the  North 
Star,  that  it  rained  guns  all  the  mornin',  and  the  water  got 
into  tin-  baskets  when  we  was  a-fetchin'  the  things  over,  and 
made  a  sight  o'  pester." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel,  with  an  air  of  placid  satis 
faction,  u  everything  seems  to  be  going  right  about  this 
vessel." 


320  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

Mrs.  Kittridge  and  Sally  were  soon  accommodated  with 
seats,  and  Zephaniah  Fennel  and  the  Captain  began  trim 
ming  sail.  The  day  was  one  of  those  perfect  gems  of  days 
which  are  to  be  found  only  in  the  jewel-casket  of  October ; 
a  day  neither  hot  nor  cold,  with  an  air  so  clear  that  every 
distant  pine-tree  top  stood  out  in  vivid  separateness,  and 
every  woody  point  and  rocky  island  seemed  cut  out  in  crys 
talline  clearness  against  the  sky.  There  was  so  brisk  a 
breeze  that  the  boat  slanted  quite  to  the  water's  edge  on  one 
side,  and  Mara  leaned  over  and  pensively  drew  her  little 
pearly  hand  through  the  water,  and  thought  of  the  days 
when  she  and  Moses  took  this  sail  together  —  she  in  her 
pink  sun-bonnet,  and  he  in  his  round  straw  hat,  with  a  tin 
dinner-pail  between  them ;  and  now,  to-day  the  ship  of 
her  childish  dreams  was  to  be  launched.  That  launching 
was  something  she  regarded  almost  with  superstitious  awe. 
The  ship,  built  on  one  element,  but  designed  to  have  its  life 
in  another,  seemed  an  image  of  the  soul,  framed  and  fash 
ioned  with  many  a  weary  hammer-stroke  in  this  life,  but 
finding  its  true  element  only  when  it  sails  out  into  the  ocean 
of  eternity.  Such  was  her  thought  as  she  looked  down  the 
clear,  translucent  depths ;  but  would  it  have  been  of  any  use 
to  try  to  utter  it  to  anybody  ?  —  to  Sally  Kittridge,  for  ex 
ample,  who  sat  all  in  a  cheerful  rustle  of  bright  ribbons 
beside  her,  and  who  would  have  shown  her  white  teeth  all 
round  at  such  a  suggestion,  and  said,  "Now,  Mara,  who  but 
you  would  have  thought  of  that  ?  " 

But  there  are  souls  sent  into  this  world  who  seem  to  have 
always  mysterious  affinities  for  the  invisible  and  the  unknown 
—  who  see  the  face  of  everything  beautiful  through  a  thin 
veil  of  mystery  and  sadness. !  The  Germans  call  this  yearn 
ing  of  spirit  home-sickness  4-  the  dim  remembrances  of  a 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  321 

spirit  once  affiliated  to  some  higher  sphere,  of  whose  lost 
brightness  all  things  fair  are  the  vague  reminders.  As  Mara 
looked  pensively  into  the  water,  it  seemed  to  her  that  every 
incident  of  life  came  up  out  of  its  depths  to  meet  her.  Her 
own  face  reflected  in  a  wavering  image,  sometimes  shaped 
itself  to  her  gaze  in  the  likeness  of  the  pale  lady  of  her 
childhood,  who  seemed  to  look  up  at  her  from  the  waters 
with  dark,  mysterious  eyes  of  tender  longing.  Once  or 
twice  this  dreamy  effect  grew  so  vivid  that  she  shivered,  and 
drawing  herself  up  from  the  water,  tried  to  take  an  interest 
in  a  very  minute  account  which  Mrs.  Kittridge  was  giving 
of  the  way  to  make  corn-fritters  which  should  taste  exactly 
like  oysters.  The  closing  direction  about  the  quantity  of 
mace  Mrs.  Kittridge  felt  was  too  sacred  for  common  ears, 
and  therefore  whispered  it  into  Mrs.  Fennel's  bonnet  with  a 
knowing  nod  and  a  look  from  her  black  spectacles  which 
would  not  have  been  bad  for  a  priestess  of  Dodona  in  giving 
out  an  oracle.  In  this  secret  direction  about  the  mace  lay 
the  whole  mystery  of  corn-oysters ;  and  who  can  say  what 
consequences  might  ensue  from  casting  it  in  an  unguarded 
manner  before  the  world  ? 

And  now  the  boat  which  has  rounded  Harpswell  Point  is 
skimming  across  to  the  head  of  Middle  Bay,  where  the  new 
ship  can  distinctly  be  discerned  standing  upon  her  ways, 
while  moving  clusters  of  people  were  walking  up  and  down 
her  decks  or  lining  the  shore  in  the  vicinity.  All  sorts  of 
gossiping  and  neighborly  chit-chat  is  being  interchanged  in 
the  little  world  assembling  there. 

"  I  ha'  n't  seen  the  Fennels  nor  the  Kittridges  yet,"  said 
Aunt  Ruey,  whose  little  roly-poly  figure  was  made  illus 
trious  in  her  best  cinnamon-colored  dyed  silk.  "  There  's 
Moses  Fennel  a-goin'  up  that  ar  ladder.  Dear  me,  what 
14* 


322  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

a  beautiful  feller  he  is !  it 's  a  pity  he  a'n't  a-goin'  to  marry 
Mara  Lincoln,  after  all." 

"  Ruey,  do  hush  up,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  frowning  sternly 
down  from  under  the  shadow  of  a  preternatural  black  straw 
bonnet,  trimmed  with  huge  bows  of  black  ribbon,  which  head 
piece  sat  above  her  curls  like  a  helmet.  "  Don't  be  a-gettin' 
sentimental,  Ruey,  whatever  else  you  get  —  and  talkin'  like 
Miss  Emily  Sewell  about  match-makin' ;  I  can't  stand  it ;  it 
rises  on  my  stomach,  such  talk  does.  As  to  that  ar  Moses 
Pennel,  folks  a'n't  so  certain  as  they  thinks  what  he  '11  do. 
Sally  Kittridge  may  think  he  's  a-goin'  to  have  her,  because 
he 's  been  a-foolin'  round  with  her  all  summer,  and  Sally 
Kittridge  may  jist  find  she  's  mistaken,  that 's  all." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  I  'member  when  I  was  a  girl 
my  old  aunt,  Jerushy  Hopkins,  used  to  be  always  a-dwellin' 
on  this  Scripture,  and  I  've  been  havin'  it  brought  up  to  me 
this  mornin' :  '  There  are  three  things  which  are  too  won 
derful  for  me,  yea,  four,  which  I  know  not :  the  way  of  an 
eagle  in  the  air,  the  way  of  a  serpent  upon  a  rock,  the  way 
of  a  ship  in  the  sea,  and  the  way  of  a  man  with  a  maid/ 
She  used  to  say  it  as  a  kind  o'  caution  to  me  when  she  used 
to  think  Abram  Peters  was  bein'  attentive  to  me.  I  've 
often  reflected  what  a  massy  it  was  that  ar  never  come  to 
nothin',  for  he  's  a  poor  drunken  critter  now." 

"  Well,  for  my  part,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  fixing  her  eyes 
critically  on  the  boat  that  was  just  at  the  landing,  "  I  should 
say  the  ways  of  a  maid  with  a  man  was  full  as  particular  as 
any  of  the  rest  of  'em.  Do  look  at  Sally  Kittridge  now ! 
There  's  Tom  Hiers  a-helpin'  her  out  of  the  boat ;  and  did 
you  see  the  look  she  gin  Moses  Pennel  as  she  went  by  him. 
Wai,  Moses  has  got  Mara  on  his  arm  anyhow ;  there  's  a  gal 
worth  six-and-twenty  of  the  other.  Do  see  them  ribbins  and 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  323 

scarfs,  and  the  furbelows,  and  the  way  that  ar  Sally  Kit- 
t ridge  handles  her  eyes.  She 's  one  that  one  feller  a'n't 
never  enough  for." 

Mara's  heart  beat  fast  when  the  boat  touched  the  shore, 
and  Moses  and  one  or  two  other  young  men  came  to  assist  in 
their  landing.  Never  had  he  looked  more  beautiful  than  at 
this  moment,  when  flushed  with  excitement  and  satisfaction 
he  stood  on  the  shore,  his  straw  hat  off,  and  his  black  curls 
blowing  in  the  sea-breeze.  He  looked  at  Sally  with  a  look 
of  frank  admiration  as  she  stood  there  dropping  her  long 
black  lashes  over  her  bright  cheeks,  and  coquettishly  looking 
out  from  under  them,  but  she  stepped  forward  with  a  little 
energy  of  movement,  and  took  the  offered  hand  of  Tom 
Hiers,  who  was  gazing  at  her  too  with  undisguised  rapture, 
and  Moses,  stepping  into  the  boat,  helped  Mrs.  Fennel  on 
shore,  and  then  took  Mara  on  his  arm,  looking  her  over  as 
he  did  so  with  a  glance  far  less  assured  and  direct  than  he 
had  given  to  Sally. 

"  You  won't  be  afraid  to  climb  the  ladders,  Mara  ?  "  said 
he. 

"  Not  if  you  help  me,"  she  said. 

Sally  and  Tom  Hiers  had  already  walked  on  toward  the 
vessel,  she  ostentatiously  chatting  and  laughing  with  him. 
Moses'  brow  clouded  a  little,  and  Mara  noticed  it.  Moses 
thought  he  did  not  care  for  Sally  ;  he  knew  that  the  little 
hand  that  was  now  lying  on  his  arm  was  the  one  he  wanted, 
and  yet  he  felt  vexed  when  he  saw  Sally  walk  off  trium 
phantly  with  another.  It  was  the  dog-in-the-manger  feeling 
which  possesses  coquettes  of  both  sexes. 

Sally,  on  all  former  occasions,  had  shown  a  marked  pref 
erence  for  him,  and  professed  supreme  indifference  to  Tom 
Hiers. 


324  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

"  It's  all  well  enough,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  he -helped 
Mara  up  the  ladders  with  the  greatest  deference  and  tender 
ness.  "  This  little  woman  is  worth  ten  such  girls  as  Sally, 
if  one  only  could  get  her  heart.  Here  we  are  on  our  ship, 
Mara,"  he  said,  as  he  lifted  her  over  the  last  barrier  and  set 
her  down  on  the  deck.  "  Look  over  there,  do  you  see  Eagle 
Island  ?  Did  you  dream  when  we  used  to  go  over  there 
and  spend  the  day  that  you  ever  would  be  on  my  ship,  as 
you  are  to-day  ?  You  won't  be  afraid,  will  you,  when  the 
ship  starts  ?  " 

"  I  am  too  much  of  a  sea-girl  to  fear  on  anything  that 
sails  in  water,"  said  Mara  with  enthusiasm.  "  What  a  splen 
did  ship  !  how  nicely  it  all  looks  !  " 

"  Come,  let  me  take  you  over  it,"  said  Moses,  "  and  show 
you  my  cabin." 

Meanwhile  the  graceful  little  vessel  was  the  subject  of 
various  comments  by  the  crowd  of  spectators  below,  and  the 
clatter  of  workmen's  hammers  busy  in  some  of  the  last 
preparations  could  yet  be  heard  like  a  shower  of  hail 
stones  under  her. 

"  I  hope  the  ways  are  well  greased,"  said  old  Captain 
Eldritch.  "  'Member  how  the  John  Peters  stuck  in  her 
ways  for  want  of  their  being  greased  ? " 

"  Don't  you  remember  the  Grand  Turk,  that  keeled  over 
five  minutes  after  she  was  launched  ?  "  said  the  quavering 
voice  of  Miss  Ruey ;  "  there  was  jist  such  a  company  of 
thoughtless  young  creatures  aboard  as  there  is  now." 

"  Well,  there  was  n't  nobody  hurt,"  said  Captain  Kittridge. 
"  If  Mis'  Kittridge  would  let  me,  I  'd  be  glad  to  go  aboard 
this  'ere,  and  be  launched  with  'em." 

"  I  tell  the  Cap'n  he  's  too  old  to  be  climbin'  round  and 
mixin'  with  young  folks'  frolics,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  325 

"  I  suppose,  Cap'n  Fennel,  you  've  seen  that  the  ways  is 
all  right,"  said  Captain  Broad,  returning  to  the  old  subject. 

"  Oh  yes,  it 's  all  done  as  well  as  hands  can  do  it,"  said 
Zephaniah.  "  Moses  has  been  here  since  starlight  this 
morning,  and  Moses  has  pretty  good  faculty  about  such 
matters." 

"  Where  's  Mr.  Sewell  and  Miss  Emily  ? "  said  Miss 
Ruey.  "  Oh,  there  they  are  over  on  that  pile  of  rocks ; 
they  get  a  pretty  fair  view  there." 

Mr.  Sewell  and  Miss  Emily  were  sitting  under  a  cedar- 
tree,  with  two  or  three  others,  on  a  projecting  point  whence 
they  could  have  a  clear  view  of  the  launching.  They  were 
so  near  that  they  could  distinguish  clearly  the  figures  on 
deck,  and  see  Moses  standing  with  his  hat  off,  the  wind 
blowing  his  curls  back,  talking  earnestly  to  the  golden-haired 
little  woman  on  his  arm. 

"  It  is  a  launch  into  life  for  him,"  said  Mr.  Sewell,  with 
suppressed  feeling. 

"  Yes,  and  he  has  Mara  on  his  arm,"  said  Miss  Emily ; 
"  that 's  as  it  should  be.  Who  is  that  that  Sally  Kittridge 
is  flirting  with  now  ?  Oh,  Tom  Hiers.  Well !  he 's  good 
enough  for  her.  Why  don't  she  take  him  ? "  said  Miss 
Emily,  in  her  zeal  jogging  her  brother's  elbow. 

"  I  'm  sure,  Emily,  /don't  know,"  said  Mr.  Sewell  dryly  ; 
"  perhaps  he  won't  be  taken." 

"  Don't  you  think  Moses  looks  handsome  ? "  said  Miss 
Emily.  "  I  declare  there  is  something  quite  romantic  and 
Spanish  about  him ;  don't  you  think  so,  Theophilus  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  think  so,"  said  her  brother,  quietly  looking,  ex 
ternally,  the  meekest  and  most  matter-of-fact  of  persons ; 
but  deep  within  him  a  voice  sighed,  "  Poor  Dolores,  be  com 
forted,  your  boy  is  beautiful  and  prosperous  ! " 


326  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  There,  there  !  "  said  Miss  Emily,  "  I  believe  she  is  start 
ing." 

All  eyes  of  the  crowd  were  now  fixed  on  the  ship ;  the 
sound  of  hammers  stopped  ;  the  workmen  were  seen  flying 
in  every  direction  to  gain  good  positions  to  see  her  go,  — 
that  sight  so  often  seen  on  those  shores,  yet  to  which  use 
cannot  dull  the  most  insensible. 

First  came  a  slight,  almost  imperceptible,  movement,  then 
a  swift  exultant  rush,  a  dash  into  the  hissing  water,  and  the 
air  was  rent  with  hurrahs  as  the  beautiful  ship  went  floating 
far  out  on  the  blue  seas,  where  her  fairer  life  was  hence 
forth  to  be. 

IMara  was  leaning  on  Moses'  arm  at  the  instant  the  ship 
began  to  move,  but  in  the  moment  of  the  last  dizzy  rush  she 
felt  his  arm  go  tightly  round  her,  holding  her  so  close  that 
she  could  hear  the  beating  of  his  heart. 

"  Hurrah  !  "  he  said,  letting  go  his  hold  the  moment  the 
ship  floated  free,  and  swinging  his  hat  in  answer  to  the  hats, 
scarfs,  and  handkerchiefs,  which  fluttered  from  the  crowd 
on  the  shore.  His  eyes  sparkled  with  a  proud  light  as  he 
stretched  himself  upward,  raising  his  head  and  throwing 
i  back  his  shoulders  with  a  triumphant  movement.  He 
looked  like  a  young  sea-king  just  crowned ;  and  the  fact  is 
the  less  wonderful,  therefore,  that  Mara  felt  her  heart  throb 
as  she  looked  at  him,  and  that  a  treacherous  throb  of  the 
same  nature  shook  the  breezy  ribbons  fluttering  over  the 
careless  heart  of  Sally.  A  handsome  young  sea-captain, 
treading  the  deck  of  his  own  vessel,  is,  in  his  time  and  place, 
a  prince. 

Moses  looked  haughtily  .across  at  Sally,  and  then  passed 
a  half-laughing  defiant  flash  of  eyes  between  them.  He 
looked  at  Mara,  who  could  certainly  not  have  known  what 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  327 

was  in  her  eyes  at  the  moment,  —  an  expression  that  made 
his  heart  give  a  great  throb,  and  wonder  if  he  saw  aright : 
but  it  was  gone  a  moment  after,  as  all  gathered  around  in  a 
knot  exchanging  congratulations  on  the  fortunate  way  in 
which  the  affair  had  gone  off.  Then  came  the  launching 
in  boats  to  go  back  to  the  collation  on  shore,  where  were 
high  merry-makings  for  the  space  of  one  or  two  hours :  — 
and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  first  part  of  Moses  Fennel's  Satur 
day  afternoon  prediction. 


S28  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

MOSES  was  now  within  a  day  or  two  of  the  time  of  his 
sailing,  and  yet  the  distance  between  him  and  Mara  seemed 
greater  than  ever.  It  is  astonishing,  when  two  people  are 
once  started  on  a  wrong  understanding  with  each  other,  how 
near  they  may  live,  IJLOW  intimate  they  may  be,  how  many 
things  they  may  have  in  common,  how  many  words  they 
may  speak,  how  closely  they  may  seem  to  simulate  intimacy,, 
confidence,  friendship,  while  yet  there  lies  a  gulf  between 
them  that  neither  crosses,  —  a  reserve  that  neither  explores. 

Like  most  shy  girls,  Mara  became  more  shy  the  more 
really  she  understood  the  nature  of  her  own  feelings.  The 
conversation  with  Sally  had  opened  her  eyes  to  the  secret 
of  her  own  heart,  and  she  had  a  guilty  feeling  as  if  what  she 
had  discovered  must  be  discovered  by  every  one  else.  Yes, 
it  was  clear  she  loved  Moses  in  a  way  that  made  him,  she 
thought,  more  necessary  to  her  happiness  than  she  could 
ever  be  to  his,  —  in  a  way  that  made  it  impossible  to  think 
of  him  as  wholly  and  for  life  devoted  to  another,  without  a 
constant  inner  conflict.  In  vain  had  been  all  her  little 
stratagems  practised  upon  herself  the  whole  summer  long, 
to  prove  to  herself  that  she  was  glad  that  the  choice  had 
fallen  upon  Sally.  She  saw  clearly  enough  now  that  she 
was  not  glad,  —  that  there  was  no  woman  or  girl  living, 
however  dear,  who  could  come  for  life  between  him  and  her 
without  casting  on  her  heart  the  shuddering  sorrow  of  a  dim 
eclipse. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  329 

But  now  the  truth  was  plain  to  herself,  her  whole  force" 
was  directed  toward  the  keeping  of  her  secret.  "I  may 
suffer,"  she  thought,  u  but  I  will  have  strength  not  to  be  silly 
and  weak.  Nobody  shall  know,  —  nobody  shall  dream  it, — 
and  in  the  long,  long  time  that  he  is  away,  I  shall  have 
strength  given  me  to  overcome." 

So  Mara  put  on  her  most  cheerful  and  matter-of-fact  kind 
of  face,  and  plunged  into  the  making  of  shirts  and  knitting 
of  stockings,  and  talked  of  the  coming  voyage  with  such  a 
total  absence  of  any  concern,  that  Moses  began  to  think, 
after  all,  there  could  be  no  depth  to  her  feelings,  or  that  the 
deeper  ones  were  all  absorbed  by  some  one  else. 

"  You  really  seem  to  enjoy  the  prospect  of  my  going 
away,"  said  he  to  her,  one  morning,  as  she  was  energetically 
busying  herself  with  her  preparations. 

"  Well,  of  course  ;  you  know  your  career  must  begin. 
You  must  make  your  fortune ;  and  it  is  pleasant  to  think 
how  favorably  everything  is  shaping  for  you." 

"  One  likes,  however,  to  be  a  little  regretted,"  said  Moses, 
in  a  tone  of  pique. 

"  A  little  regretted  !  "  Mara's  heart  beat  at  these  words, 
but  her  hypocrisy  was  well  practised.  She  put  down  the 
rebellious  throb,  and  assuming  a  look  of  open,  sisterly  friend 
liness,  said,  quite  naturally,  "  Why,  we  shall  all  miss  you,  of 
course." 

"  Of  course,"  said  Moses,  — "  one  would  be  glad  to  be 
missed  some  other  way  than  of  course." 

"  Oh,  as  to  that,  make  yourself  easy,"  said  Mara.  "  We 
shall  all  be  dull  enough  when  you  are  gone  to  content  the 
most  exacting."  Still  she  spoke,  not  stopping  her  stitching, 
and  raising  her  soft  brown  eyes  with  a  frank,  open  look  into 
Moses'  — no  tremor,  not  even  of  an  eyelid. 


330  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

"  You  men  must  have  everything,"  she  continued,  gayly ; 
"  the  enterprise,  the  adventure,  the  novelty,  the  pleasure  of 
feeling  that  you  are  something,  and  can  do  something  in  the 
world ;  and  besides  all  this,  you  want  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  we  women  are  following  in  chains  behind  your 
triumphal  car !  " 

There  was  a  dash  of  bitterness  in  this,  which  was  a  rare 
ingredient  in  Mara's  conversation. 

Moses  took  the  word.  "And  you  women  sit  easy  at 
home,  sewing  and  singing,  and  forming  romantic  pictures  of 
our  life  as  like  its  homely  reality  as  romances  generally  are 
to  reality ;  and  while  we  are  off  in  the  hard  struggle  for 
position  and  the  means  of  life,  you  hold  your  hearts  ready 
for  the  first  rich  man  that  offers  a  fortune  ready  made." 

"  The  first !  "  said  Mara.  "  Oh,  you  naughty  !  sometimes 
we  try  two  or  three." 

"  Well,  then,  I  suppose  this  is  from  one  of  them,"  said 
Moses,  flapping  down  a  letter  from  Boston,  directed  in  a 
masculine  hand,  which  he  had  got  at  the  post-office  that 
morning. 

Now  Mara  knew  that  this  letter  was  nothing  in  particular, 
but  she  was  taken  by  surprise,  and  her  skin  was  delicate  as 
peach-blossom,  and  so  she  could  not  help  a  sudden  blush, 
which  rose  even  to  her  golden  hair,  vexed  as  she  was  to  feel 
it  coming.  She  put  the  letter  quietly  in  her  pocket,  and  for 
a  moment  seemed  too  discomposed  to  answer. 

"  You  do  well  to  keep  your  own  counsel,"  said  Moses. 
"No  friend  so  near  as  one's  self,  is  a  good  maxim.  One 
does  not  expect  young  girls  to  learn  it  so  early,  but  it  seems 
they  do." 

"  And  why  should  n't  they  as  well  as  young  men  ?  "  said 
Mara.  "  Confidence  begets  confidence,  they  say." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  331 

"  I  have  no  ambition  to  play  confidant,"  said  Moses  ;  "  al 
though  as  one  who  stands  to  you  in  the  relation  of  older 
brother  and  guardian,  and  just  on  the  verge  of  a  long  voy 
age,  I  might  be  supposed  anxious  to  know." 

"  And  /  have  no  ambition  to  be  confidant,"  said  Mara,  all 
her  spirit  sparkling  in  her  eyes  ;  "  although  when  one  stands 
to  you  in  the  relation  of  an  only  sister,  I  might  be  supposed 
perhaps  to  feel  some  interest  to  be  in  your  confidence." 

The  words  "  older  brother  "  and  "  only  sister  "  grated  on 
the  ears  of  both  the  combatants  as  a  decisive  sentence. 
Mara  never  looked  so  pretty  in  her  life,  for  the  whole  force 
of  her  being  was  awake,  glowing  and  watchful,  to  guard  pas 
sage,  door,  and  window  of  her  soul,  that  no  treacherous  hint 
might  escape.  Had  he  not  just  reminded  her  that  he  was 
only  an  older  brother  ?  and  what  would  he  think  if  he  knew 
the  truth  ?  —  and  Moses  thought  the  words  only  sister  un 
equivocal  declaration  of  how  the  matter  stood  in  her  view, 
and  so  he  rose,  and  saying,  "  I  won't  detain  you  longer  from 
your  letter,"  took  his  hat  and  went  out. 

"  Are  you  going  down  to  Sally's  ?  "  said  Mara,  coming  to 
the  door  and  looking  out  after  him. 

"Yes." 

"  Well,  ask  her  to  come  home  with  you  and  spend  the 
evening.  I  have  ever  so  many  things  to  tell  her." 

"  I  will,"  said  Moses,  as  he  lounged  away. 

"  The  thing  is  clear  enough,"  said  Moses  to  himself. 
"  Why  should  I  make  a  fool  of  myself  any  further  ?  What 
possesses  us  men  always  to  set  our  hearts  precisely  on  what 
is  n't  to  be  had  ?  There  's  Sally  Kittridge  likes  me  ;  I  can 
see  that  plainly  enough,  for  all  her  mincing ;  and  why 
could  n't  I  have  had  the  sense  to  fall  in  love  with  her  ?  She 
will  make  a  splendid,  showy  woman.  She  has  talent  and 


332  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

tact  enough  to  rise  to  any  position  I  may  rise  to,  let  me  rise 
as  high  as  I  will.  She  will  always  have  skill  and  energy  in 
the  conduct  of  life ;  and  when  all  the  froth  and  foam  of 
youth  has  subsided,  she  will  make  a  noble  woman.  Why, 
then,  do  I  cling  to  this  fancy  ?  I  feel  that  this  little  flossy 
cloud,  this  delicate,  quiet  little  puff  of  thistle-down,  on  which 
I  have  set  my  heart,  is  the  only  thing  for  me,  and  that  with 
out  her  my  life  will  always  be  incomplete.  I  remember  all 
our  early  life.  It  was  she  who  sought  me,  and  ran  after 
me,  and  where  has  all  that  love  gone  to  ?  Gone  to  this 
fellow ;  that 's  plain  enough.  When  a  girl  like  her  is  so 
comfortably  cool  and  easy,  it 's  because  her  heart  is  off 
somewhere  else." 

This  conversation  took  place  about  four  o'clock  in  as  fine 
an  October  afternoon  as  you  could  wish  to  see.  The  sun, 
sloping  westward,  turned  to  gold  the  thousand  blue  scales 
of  the  ever-heaving  sea,  and  soft,  pine-scented  winds  were 
breathing  'everywhere  through  the  forests,  waving  the  long, 
swaying  films  of  heavy  moss,  and  twinkling  the  leaves  of  the 
silver  birches  that  fluttered  through  the  leafy  gloom.  The 
moon,  already  in  the  sky,  gave  promise  of  a  fine  moonlight 
night ;  and  the  wild  and  lonely  stillness  of  the  island,  and 
the  thoughts  of  leaving  in  a  few  days,  all  conspired  to  foster 
the  restless  excitement  in  our  hero's  mind  into  a  kind  of 
romantic  unrest. 

[Now,  in  some  such  states,  a  man  disappointed  in  one 
woman  will  turn  to  another,  because,  in  a  certain  way  and 
measure,  her^presence  stills  the  craving  and  fills  the  void. 
It  is  a  sort  of  supposititious  courtship,  —  a  saying  to  one 
woman,  who  is  sympathetic  and  receptive,  the  words  of 
longing  and  love  that  another  will  not  receive.  To  be  sure, 
it  is  a  game  unworthy  of  any  true  man,  —  a  piece  of  sheer, 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  333 

I — 
reckless,  inconsiderate  selfishness.    But  men  do  it,  as  they  do 

many  other  unworthy  things,  from  the  mere  promptings  of 
present  impulse,  and  let  consequences  take  care  of  themselves. 

Moses  met  Sally  that  afternoon  in  just  the  frame  to  play 
the  lover  in  this  hypothetical,  supposititious  way,  with  words 
and  looks  and  tones  that  came  from  feelings  given  to  an 
other.  And  as  to  Sally? 

Well,  for  once,  Greek  met  Greek ;  for  although  Sally,  as 
we  showed  her,  was  a  girl  of  generous  impulses,  she  was  yet 
in  no  danger  of  immediate  translation  on  account  of  super 
human  goodness.  In  short,  Sally  had  made  up  her  mind 
that  Moses  should  give  her  a  chance  to  say  that  precious 
and  golden  No,  which  should  enable  her  to  count  him  as 
one  of  her  captives,  —  and  then  he  might  go  where  he  liked 
for  all  her. 

So  said  the  wicked  elf,  as  she  looked  into  her  own  great 
eyes  in  the  little  square  of  mirror  shaded  by  a  misty  as 
paragus  bush  ;  and  to  this  end  there  were  various  braidings 
and  adornings  of  the  lustrous  black  hair,  and  coquettish  ear 
rings  were  mounted  that  hung  glancing  and  twinkling  just 
by  the  smooth  outline  of  her  glowing  cheek,  —  and  then 
Sally  looked  at  herself  in  a  friendly  way  of  approbation,  and 
nodded  at  the  bright  dimpled  shadow  with  a  look  of  secret 
understanding.  The  real  Sally  and  the  Sally  of  the  looking- 
glass  were  on  admirable  terms  with  each  other,  and  both  of 
one  mind  about  the  plan  of  campaign  against  the  common 
enemy.  Sally  thought  of  him  as  he  stood  kingly  and  tri 
umphant  on  the  deck  of  his  vessel,  his  great  black  eyes 
flashing  confident  glances  into  hers,  and  she  felt  a  rebellious 
rustle  of  all  her  plumage.  "  No,  sir,"  she  said  to  herself, 
"yon  don't  do  it.  You  shall  never  find  me  among  your 
slaves,"  —  "that  you  know  of,"  added  a  doubtful  voice  within 


334         THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

her.  "  Never  to  your  knowledge"  she  said,  as  she  turned 
away.  "  I  wonder  if  he  will  come  here  this  evening,"  she 
said,  as  she  began  to  work  upon  a  pillow-case,  —  one  of  a 
set  which  Mrs.  Kittridge  had  confided  to  her  nimble  fingers. 
The  seam  was  long,  straight,  and  monotonous,  and  Sally  was 
restless  and  fidgety  ;  her  thread  would  catch  in  knots,  and 
when  she  tried  to  loosen  it,  would  break,  and  the  needle 
had  to  be  threaded  over.  Somehow  the  work  was  terribly  irk 
some  to  her,  and  the  house  looked  so  still  and  dim  and  lone 
some,  and  the  tick-tock  of  the  kitchen-clock  was  insufferable, 
and  Sally  let  her  work  fall  in  her  lap  and  looked  out  of  the 
open  window,  far  to  the  open  ocean,  where  a  fresh  breeze 
was  blowing  toward  her,  and  her  eyes  grew  deep  and  dreamy 
following  the  gliding  ship  sails.  Sally  was  getting  romantic. 
Had  she  been  reading  novels  ?  Novels  !  What  can  a  pretty 
woman  find  in  a  novel  equal  to  the  romance  that  is  all  the 
while  weaving  and  unweaving  about  her,  and  of  which  no 
human  foresight  can  tell  her  the  catastrophe  ?  It  is  novels 
that  give  false  views  of  life.  Is  there  not  an  eternal  novel, 
with  all  these  false,  cheating  views,  written  in  the  breast  of 
every  beautiful  and  attractive  girl  whose  witcheries  make 
every  man  that  comes  near  her  talk  like  a  fool  ?  Like  a 
sovereign  princess,  she  never  hears  the  truth,  unless  it  be 
from  the  one  manly  man  in  a  thousand,  who  understands 
both  himself  and  her.  From  all  the  rest  she  hears  only 
flatteries  more  or  less  ingenious,  according  to  the  ability  of 
the  framer.  Compare,  for  instance,  what  Tom  Brown  says 
to  little  Seraphina  at  the  party  to-night,  with  what  Tom 
Brown  sober  says  to  sober  sister  Maria  about  her  to-morrow. 
Tom  remembers  that  he  was  a  fool  last  night,  and  knows 
what  he  thinks  and  always  has  thought  to-day  ;  but  pretty 
Seraphina  thinks  he  adores  her,  so  that  no  matter  what  she 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  335 

does  he  will  never  see  a  flaw,  she  is  sure  of  that,  —  poor 
little  puss !  She  does  not  know  that  philosophic  Tom  looks 
at  her  as  he  does  at  a  glass  of  champagne,  or  a  dose  of  ex 
hilarating  gas,  and  calculates  how  much  it  will  do  for  him 
to  take  of  the  stimulus  without  interfering  with  his  serious 
and  settled  plans  of  life,  which,  of  course,  he  does  n't  mean 
to  give  up  for  her.  The  one-thousand-and-first  man  in 
creation  is  he  that  can  feel  the  fascination  but  will  not  flatter, 
and  that  tries  to  tell  to  the  little  tyrant  the  rare  word  of 
truth  that  may  save  her ;  —  he  is,  as  we  say,  the  one-thou 
sand-and-first.  Well,  as  Sally  sat  with  her  great  dark  eyes 
dreamily  following  the  ship,  she  mentally  thought  over  all  the 
compliments  Moses  had  paid  her,  expressed  or  understood, 
and  those  of  all  her  other  admirers,  who  had  built  up  a  sort 
of  cloud-world  around  her,  so  that  her  little  feet  never  rested 
on  the  soil  of  reality.  Sally  was  shrewd  and  keen,  and  had 
a  native  mother-wit  in  the  discernment  of  spirits,  that  made 
her  feel  that  somehow  this  was  all  false  coin  ;  but  still  she 
counted  it  over,  and  it  looked  so  pretty  and  bright  that  she 
sighed  to  think  it  was  not  real. 

"  If  it  only  had  been,"  she  thought ;  "  if  there  were  only 
any  truth  to  the  creature  ;  he  is  so  handsome,  —  it 's  a  pity. 
But  I  do  believe  in  his  secret  heart  he  is  in  love  with  Mara  ;  • 
he  is  in  love  with  some  one,  I  know.  I  have  seen  looks  that  \ 
must  come  from  something  real ;  but  they  were  not  for  me. 
I  have  a  kind  of  power  over  him,  though,"  she  said,  resuming 
her  old  wicked  look,  "  and  I  '11  puzzle  him  a  little,  and  tor 
ment  him.  He  shall  find  his  match  in  me,"  and  Sally  nodded 
to  a  cat-bird  that  sat  perched  on  a  pine-tree,  as  if  she  had  a 
secret  understanding  with  him,  and  the  cat-bird  went  off  into 
a  perfect  roulade  of  imitations  of  all  that  was  going  on  in  the 
late  bird-operas  of  the  season. 


. 


336  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Sally  was  roused  from  her  revery  by  a  spray  of  golden- 
rod  that  was  thrown  into  her  lap  by  an  invisible  hand,  and 
Moses  soon  appeared  at  the  window. 

"  There  's  a  plume  that  would  be  becoming  to  your  hair," 
he  said  ;  "  stay,  let  me  arrange  it." 

"  No,  no ;  you  '11  tumble  my  hair,  —  what  can  you  know 
of  such  things  ?  " 

Moses  held  the  spray  aloft,  and  leaned  toward  her  with  a 
sort  of  quiet,  determined  insistance. 

"  By  your  leave,  fair  lady,"  he  said,  wreathing  it  in  her 
hair,  and  then  drawing  back  a  little,  he  looked  at  her  with 
so  much  admiration  that  Sally  felt  herself  blush. 

"  Come,  now,  I  dare  say  you  've  made  a  fright  of  me," 
she  said,  rising  and  instinctively  turning  to  the  looking-glass ; 
but  she  had  too  much  coquetry  not  to  see  how  admirably  the 
golden  plume  suited  her  black  hair,  and  the  brilliant  eyes 
and  cheeks ;  she  turned  to  Moses  again,  and  courtesied  say 
ing  "  thank  you,  sir,"  dropping  her  eyelashes  with  a  mock 
humility. 

"  Come,  now,"  said  Moses  ;  "  I  am  sent  after  you  to  come 
and  spend  the  evening ;  let 's  walk  along  the  sea-shore,  and 
get  there  by  degrees." 

And  so  they  set  out ;  but  the  path  was  circuitous,  for 
Moses  was  always  stopping,  now  at  this  point  and  now  at 
that,  and  enacting  some  of  those  thousand  little  by-plays 
which  a  man  can  get  up  with  a  pretty  woman.  They 
searched  for  smooth  pebbles  where  the  waves  had  left 
them,  —  many-colored,  pink  and  crimson  and  yellow  and 
brown,  all  smooth  and  rounded  by  the  eternal  tossings  of  the 
old  sea  that  had  made  playthings  of  them  for  centuries,  and 
with  every  pebble  given  and  taken  were  things  said  which 
should  have  meant  more  and  more,  had  the  play  been  ear- 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  337 

nest.  Had  Moses  any  idea  of  offering  himself  to  Sally  ? 
No ;  but  he  was  in  one  of  those  fluctuating,  unresisting 
moods  of  mind  in  which  he  was  willing  to  lie  like  a  chip 
on  the  tide  of  present  emotion,  and  let  it  rise  and  fall  and 
dash  him  when  it  liked ;  and  Sally  never  had  seemed  more 
beautiful  and  attractive  to  him  than  that  afternoon,  because 
there  was  a  shade  of  reality  and  depth  about  her  that  he 
had  never  seen  before. 

"  Come  on,  and  let  me  show  you  my  hermitage,"  said 
Moses,  guiding  her  along  the  slippery  projecting  rocks,  all 
covered  with  yellow  tresses  of  sea-weed.  [Sally  often  slipped 
on  this  treacherous  footing,  and  Moses  was  obliged  to  hold 
her  up,  and  instinctively  he  threw  a  meaning  into  his  manner 
so  much  more  than  ever  he  had  before,  that  by  the  time  they 
had  gained  the  little  cove  both  were  really  agitated  and  ex 
cited.  He  felt  that  temporary  delirium  which  is  often  the 
mesmeric  effect  of  a  strong  womanly  presence,  and  she  felt 
that  agitation  which  every  woman  must  when  a  determined 
hand  is  striking  on  the  great  vital  chord  of  her  being.  When 
they  had  stepped  round  the  last  point  of  rock  they  found 
themselves  driven  by  the  advancing  tide  up  into  the  little 
lonely  grotto,  —  and  there  they  were  with  no  look-out  but 
the  wide  blue  sea,  all  spread  out  in  rose  and  gold  under  the 
twilight  skies,  with  a  silver  moon  looking  down  upon  them.  ; 

"  Sally,"  said  Moses,  in  a  low,  earnest  whisper,  "  you  love 
me,  —  do  you  not  ?  "  and  he  tried  to  pass  his  arm  around 
her. 

She  turned  and  flashed  at  him  a  look  of  mingled  terror 
and  defiance,  and  struck  out  her  hands  at  him  —  then  im 
petuously  turning  away  and  retreating  to  the  other  end  of 
the  grotto,  she  sat  down  on  a  rock  and  began  to  cry. 

Moses  came  toward  her,  and  kneeling,  tried  to  take  her 
15 


338  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

hand.  She  raised  her  head  angrily,  and  again  repulsed 
him. 

"  Go ! "  she  said.  "  What  right  had  you  to  say  that  ? 
What  right  had  you  even  to  think  it?" 

"  Sally?  you  do  love  me.  It  cannot  but  be.  You  are  a 
woman ;  you  could  not  have  been  with  me  as  we  have  and 
not  feel  more  than  friendship." 

"  Oh,  you  men  !  —  your  conceit  passes  understanding," 
said  Sally.  "  You  tlrink  we  are  born  to  be  your  bond 
slaves,  —  but  for  once  you  are  mistaken,  sir.  I  don't  love 
you  ;  and  what 's  more,  you  don't  love  me,  —  you  know  you 
don't ;  you  know  that  you  love  somebody  else.  You  love 
Mara,  —  you  know  you  do ;  there  's  no  truth  in  you,"  she 
said,  rising  indignantly. 

Moses  felt  himself  color.  There  was  an  embarrassed 
pause,  and  then  he  answered,  — 

"  Sally,  why  should  I  love  Mara  ?  Her  heart  is  all  given 
to  another,  —  you  yourself  know  it." 

"  I  don't  know  it  either,"  said  Sally ;  "  I  know  it  is  n't  so." 

"  But  you  gave  me  to  understand  so." 

"  Well,  sir,  you  put  prying  questions  about  what  you 
ought  to  have  asked  her,  and  so  what  was  I  to  do  ?  Be 
sides,  I  did  want  to  show  you  how  much  better  Mara 
could  do  than  to  take  you ;  besides,  I  did  n't  know  till  late 
ly.  I  never  thought  she  could  care  much  for  any  man 
more  than  I  could." 

"  And  you  think  she  loves  me  ?  "  said  Moses,  eagerly,  a 
flash  of  joy  illuminating  his  face ;  "  do  you,  really  ?  " 

"  There  you  are,"  said  Sally  ;  "  it 's  a  shame  I  have  let 
you  know !  Yes,  Moses  Fennel,  she  loves  you  like  an 
angel,  as  none  of  you  men  deserve  to  be  loved,  —  as  you 
in  particular  don't." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  339 

Moses  sat  down  on  a  point  of  rock,  and  looked  on  the 
ground  discountenanced.  Sally  stood  up  glowing  and  tri 
umphant,  as  if  she  had  her  foot  on  the  neck  of  her  oppressor 
and  meant  to  make  the  most  of  it. 

"  Now  what  do  you  think  of  yourself  for  all  this  summer's 
work  ?  —  for  what  you  have  just  said,  asking  me  if  I  did  n't 
love  you  ?  Supposing,  now,  I  had  done  as  other  girls  would, 
played  the  fool  and  blushed,  and  said  yes  ?  Why,  to-mor 
row  you  would  have  been  thinking  how  to  be  rid  of  me  !  I 
shall  save  you  all  that  trouble,  sir." 

"  Sally,  I  own  I  have  been  acting  like  a  fool,"  said  Moses, 
humbly. 

"  You  have  done  more  than  that,  —  you  have  acted  wick 
edly,"  said  Sally. 

"  And  am  I  the  only  one  to  blame  ?  "  said  Moses,  lifting 
his  head  with  a  show  of  resistance. 

"  Listen,  sir  !  "  said  Sally,  energetically  ;  "  I  have  played 
the  fool  and  acted  wrong  too,  but  there  is  just  this  difference 
between  you  and  me  :  you  had  nothing  to  lose  and  I  a  great 
deal ;  —  your  heart,  such  as  it  was,  was  safely  disposed  of. 
But  supposing  you  had  won  mine,  what  would  you  have 
done  with  it?  That  was  the  last  thing  you  considered." 

"  Go  on,  Sally,  don't  spare  ;  I  'm  a  vile  dog,  unworthy  of 
either  of  you,"  said  Moses. 

Sally  looked  down  on  her  handsome  penitent  with  some 
relenting  as  he  sat  quite  dejected,  his  strong  arms  drooping, 
and  his  long  eyelashes  cast  down. 

"  I  '11  be  friends  with  you,"  she  said,  "  because,  after  all, 
I  'm  not  so  very  much  better  than  you.  We  have  both  done 
wrong,  and  made  dear  Mara  very  unhappy.  But  after  all,  I 
was  not  so  much  to  blame  as  you ;  because,  if  there  had 
been  any  reality  in  your  love,  I  could  have  paid  it  honestly. 


340  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

I  had  a  heart  to  give,  —  I  have  it  now,  and  hope  long  to 
keep  it,"  said  Sally. 

"  Sally,  you  are  a  right  noble  girl.  I  never  knew  what 
you  were  till  now,"  said  Moses,  looking  at  her  with  admira 
tion. 

"  It 's  the  first  time  for  all  these  six  months  that  we  have 
either  of  us  spoken  a  word  of  truth  or  sense  to  each  other. 
I  never  did  anything  but  trifle  with  you,  and  you  the  same. 
Now  we  've  come  to  some  plain  dry  land,  we  may  walk  on 
and  be  friends.  So  now  help  me  up  these  rocks,  and  I  will 
go  home." 

"  And  you  '11  not  come  home  with  me  ?  " 

"  Of  course  not.  I  think  you  may  now  go  home  and  have 
one  talk  with  Mara  without  witnesses." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  341 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

MOSES  walked  slowly  home  from  his  interview  with  Sally 
in  a  sort  of  maze  of  confused  thought.  In  general,  men  un 
derstand  women  only  from  the  outside,  and  judge  them  with 
about  as  much,  real  comprehension  as  an  eagle  might  judge 
a  canary-bird.  The  difficulty  of  real  understanding  intensi-  / 
fies  in  proportion  as  the  man  is  distinctively  manly,  and  the 
woman  womanly.  There  are  men  with  a  large  infusion  of 
the  feminine  element  in  their  composition,  who  read  the 
female  nature  with  more  understanding  than  commonly  falls 
to  the  lot  of  men ;  but  in  general,  when  a  man  passes  be 
yond  the  mere  outside  artifices  and  unrealities  which  lie 
between  the  two  sexes,  and  really  touches  his  finger  to  any 
vital  chord  in  the  heart  of  a  fair  neighbor,  he  is  astonished 
at  the  quality  of  the  vibration. 

"  I  could  not  have  dreamed  there  was  so  much  in  her," 
thought  Moses,  as  he  turned  away  from  Sally  Kittridge.  He 
felt  humbled  as  well  as  astonished  by  'the  moral  lecture 
which  this  frisky  elf  with  whom  he  had  all  summer  been 
amusing  himself,  preached  to  him  from  the  depths  of  a  real 
woman's  heart.  What  she  said  of  Mara's  loving  him  filled 
his  eyes  with  remorseful  tears,  —  and  for  the  moment  he 
asked  himself  whether  this  restless,  jealous,  exacting  desire 
whieh.JieJelt  to  appropriate  her  whole  life  and  heart  to  him 
self,  were  as  really  worthy  of  the  name  of  love  as  the  gener 
ous  self-devotion  with  which  she  had,  all  her  life,  made  all 
his  interests  her  own. 


342  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Was  he  to  go  to  her  now  and  tell  her  that  he  loved  her, 
and  therefore  he  had  teased  and  vexed  her,  —  therefore  he 
had  seemed  to  prefer  another  before  her,  —  therefore  he 
had  practised  and  experimented  upon  her  nature  ?  A  sus 
picion  rather  stole  upon  him  that  love  which  expresses  itself 
principally  in  making  exactions  and  giving  pain  is  not  ex 
actly  worthy  of  the  name.  And  yet  he  had  been  secretly 
angry  with  her  all  summer  for  being  the  very  reverse  of 
this ;  for  her  apparent  cheerful  willingness  to  see  him  happy 
with  another ;  for  the  absence  of  all  signs  of  jealousy,  —  all 
desire  of  exclusive  appropriation.  It  showed,  he  said  to 
himself,  that  there  was  no  love ;  and  now  when  it  dawned 
on  him  that  this  might  be  the  very  heroism  of  self-devotion, 
he  asked  himself  which  was  best  worthy  to  be  called  love. 

"  She  did  love  him,  then  ! "  The  thought  blazed  up 
through  the  smouldering  embers  of  thought  in  his  heart  like 
a  tongue  of  flame.  She  loved  him !  He  felt  a  sort  of  tri 
umph  in  it,  for  he  was  sure  Sally  must  know,  they  were  so 
intimate.  Well,  he  would  go  to  her,  and  tell  her  all,  confess 
all  his  sins,  and  be  forgiven. 

When  he  came  back  to  the  house  all  was  still  evening. 
The  moon,  which  was  playing  brightly  on  the  distant  sea, 
left  one  side  of  the  brown  house  in  shadow.  Moses  saw  a 
light  gleaming  behind  the  curtain  in  the  little  room  on  the 
lower  floor,  which  had  been  his  peculiar  sanctum  during  the 
summer  past.  He  had  made  a  sort  of  library  of  it,  keeping 
there  his  books  and  papers.  Upon  the  white  curtain  flitted, 
from  time  to  time,  a  delicate,  busy  shadow  ;  now  it  rose  and 
now  it  stooped,  and  then  it  rose  again  —  grew  dim  and  van 
ished,  and  then  came  out  again.  His  heart  beat  quick. 

Mara  was  in  his  room,  busy,  as  she  always  had  been  be 
fore  his  departures,  in  cares  for  him.  How  many  things  had 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  343 

she  made  for  him,  and  done  and  arranged  for  him  all  his  life 
long  1  —  things  which  he  had  taken  as  much  as  a  matter  of 
course  as  the  shining  of  that  moon.  His  thoughts  went 
back  to  the  times  of  his  first  going  to  sea,  —  he  a  rough, 
chaotic  boy,  sensitive  and  surly,  and  she  the  ever  thoughtful 
good  angel  of  a  little  girl,  whose  loving-kindness  he  had  felt 
free  to  use  and  to  abuse.  He  remembered  that  he  made  her 
cry  there  when  he  should  have  spoken  lovingly  and  grate 
fully  to  her,  and  that  the  words  of  acknowledgment  that 
ought  to  have  been  spoken,  never  had  been  said,  —  remained 
unsaid  to  that  hour.  He  stooped  low,  and  came  quite  close 
to  the  muslin  curtain.  All  was  bright  in  the  room,  and 
shadowy  without ;  he  could  see  her  movements  as  through  a 
thin  white  haze.  ;  She  was  packing  his  sea-chest ;  his  things 
were  lying  about  her,  folded  or  rolled  nicely.  Now  he  saw 
her  on  her  knees  writing  something  with  a  pencil  in  a  book, 
and  then  she  enveloped  it  very  carefully  in  silk  paper,  and 
tied  it  trimly,  and  hid  it  away  at  the  bottom  of  the  chest. 
Then  she  remained  a  moment  kneeling  at  the  chest,  her  head 
resting  in  her  hands.  A  sort  of  strange  sacred  feeling  came 
over  him  as  he  heard  a  low  murmur,  and  knew  that  she 
felt  a  Presence  that  he  never  felt  or  acknowledged.  He 
felt  somehow  that  he  was  doing  her  a  wrong  thus  to  be  pry 
ing  upon  moments  when  she  thought  herself  alone  with  God  ; 
a  sort  of  vague  remorse  filled  him ;  he  felt  as  if  she  were 
too  good  for  him.  He  turned  away,  and  entering  the  front 
door  of  the  house,  stepped  noiselessly  along  and  lifted  the 
latch  of  the  door.  He  heard  a  rustle  as  of  one  rising  hastily 
as  he  opened  it  and  stood  before  Mara.  He  had  made  up 
his  mind  what  to  say ;  but  when  she  stood  there  before  him, 
with  her  surprised,  inquiring  eyes,  he  felt  confused. 
"  What,  home  so  soon  ?  "  she  said. 


344  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  You  did  not  expect  me,  then  ?  " 

"  Of  course  not,  —  not  for  these  two  hours  ;  so,"  she  said, 
looking  about,  "  I  found  some  mischief  to  do  among  your 
things.  If  you  had  waited  as  long  as  I  expected,  they 
would  all  have  been  quite  right  again,  and  you  would  never 
have  known." 

Moses  sat  down  and  drew  her  toward  him,  as  if  he  were 
going  to  say  something,  and  then  stopped  and  began  confus 
edly  playing  with  her  work-box. 

"  Now,  please  don't,"  said  she,  archly.  "  You  know  what 
a  little  old  maid  I  am  about  my  things  ! " 

"  Mara,"  said  Mosc$,  "  people  have  asked  you  to  marry 
them,  have  there  not  ?  " 

"  People  asked  me  to  marry  them  ! "  said  Mara.  "  I  hope 
not.  What  an  odd  question  ! " 

"  You  know  what  I  mean,"  said  Moses ;  "  you  have  had 
offers  of  marriage  —  from  Mr.  Adams,  for  example." 

"  And  what  if  I  have  ?  " 

"  You  did  not  accept  him,  Mara  ?  "  said  Moses. 

«  No,  I  did  not," 

"  And  yet  he  was  a  fine  man,  I  am  told,  and  well  fitted  to 
make  you  happy." 

"  I  believe  he  was,"  said  Mara,  quietly. 

"  And  why  were  you  so  foolish  ?  " 

Mara  was  fretted  at  this  question.  She  supposed  Moses 
had  come  to  tell  her  of  his  engagement  to  Sally,  and  that 
this  was  a  kind  of  preface,  and  she  answered,  — 

"  I  don't  know  why  you  call  it  foolish.  I  was  a  true  friend 
to  Mr.  Adams.  I  saw  intellectually  that  he  might  have  the 
power  of  making  any  reasonable  woman  happy.  I  think 
now  that  the  woman  will  be  fortunate  who  becomes  his  wife ; 
but  I  did  not  wish  to  marry  him." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  345 

"  Is  there  anybody  you  prefer  to  him,  Mara  ?  "  said  Moses. 

She  started  up  with  glowing  cheeks  and  sparkling  eyes. 

"  You  have  no  right  to  ask  me  that,  though  you  are  my 
brother." 

"I  am  not  your  brother,  Mara,"  said  Moses,  rising  and 
going  toward  her,  "  and  that  is  why  I  ask  you.  I  feel  I 
have  a  right  to  ask  you." 

"  I  do  not  understand  you,"  she  said,  faintly. 

"I  can  speak  plainer,  then.  I  wish  to  put  in  my  poor 
venture.  I  love  you,  Mara  —  not  as  a  brother.  I  wish 
you  to  be  my  wife,  if  you  will." 

While  Moses  was  saying  these  words,  Mara  felt  a  sort  of 
whirling  in  her  head,  and  it  grew  dark  before  her  eyes  ;  but 
she  had  a  strong,  firm  will,  and  she  mastered  herself  and 
answered,  after  a  moment,  in  a  quiet,  sorrowful  tone,  "  How 
can  I  believe  this,  Moses  ?  If  it  is  true,  why  have  you 
done  as  you  have  this  summer  ?  " 

"  Because  I  was  a  fool,  Mara,  —  because  I  was  jealous  of 
Mr.  Adams,  —  because  I  somehow  hoped,  after  all,  that  you 
either  loved  me  or  that  I  might  make  you  think  more  of  me 
through  jealousy  of  another.  They  say  that  love  always  is 
shown  by  jealousy." 

"  Not  true  love,  I  should  think,"  said  Mara.     "  How  could  \ 
you  do  so  ?  —  it  was  cruel  to  her,  —  cruel  to  me." 

"  I  admit  it,  —  anything,  everything  you  can  say.  I  have 
acted  like  a  fool  and  a  knave,  if  you  will ;  but  after  all, 
Mara,  I  do  love  you.  I  know  I  am  not  worthy  of  you  — 
never  was  —  never  can  be  ;  you  are  in  all  things  a  true 
noble  woman,  and  I  have  been  unmanly." 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  all  this  was  spoken  without 
accompaniments  of  looks,   movements,  and   expressions   of 
face  such  as  we  cannot  give,  but  such  as  doubled  their  power 
15* 


346  THE  PEAEL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

to  the  parties  concerned ;  and  the  "  I  love  you  "  had  its  usual 
conclusive  force  as  argument,  apology,  promise,  —  covering 
like  charity,  a  multitude  of  sins. 

Half  an  hour  afler,  you  might  have  seen  a  youth  and  a 
maiden  coming  together  out  of  the  door  of  the  brown  house, 
and  walking  arm  in  arm  toward  the  sea-beach. 

It  was  one  of  those  wonderfully  clear  moonlight  evenings, 
when  the  ocean,  like  a  great  reflecting  mirror,  seems  to 
double  the  brightness  of  the  sky,  —  and  its  vast  expanse 
lay  all  around  them  in  its  stillness,  like  an  eternity  of  wave- 
less  peace.  Mara  remembered  that  time  in  her  girlhood 
when  she  had  followed  Moses  into  the  woods  on  just  such  a 
night,  —  how  she  had  sat  there  under  the  shadows  of  the 
trees,  and  looked  over  to  Harpswell  and  noticed  the  white 
houses  and  the  meeting-house,  all  so  bright  and  clear  in  the 
moonlight,  and  then  off  again  on  the  other  side  of  the  island 
where  silent  ships  were  coming  and  going  in  the  mysterious 
stillness.  They  were  talking  together  now  with  that  outflow 
ing  fulness  which  comes  when  the  seal  of  some  great  re 
serve  has  just  been  broken,  —  going  back  over  their  lives 
from  day  to  day,  bringing  up  incidents  of  childhood,  and 
turning  them  gleefully  like  two  children. 

And  then  Moses  had  all  the  story  of  his  life  to  relate,  and 
to  tell  Mara  all  he  had  learned  of  his  mother,  —  going  over 
with  all  the  narrative  contained  in  Mr.  Sewell's  letter. 

"  You  see,  Mara,  that  it  was  intended  that  you  should  be 
my  fate,"  he  ended ;  "  so  the  winds  and  waves  took  me  up 
and  carried  me  to  the  lonely  island  where  the  magic  princess 
dwelt." 

"  You  are  Prince  Ferdinand,"  said  Mara. 

"  And  you  are  Miranda,"  said  he. 

"  Ah ! "  she   said  with  fervor,  "  how  plainly  we  can  see 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  347 

that  our  heavenly  Father  has  been  guiding  our  way  !  How 
good  he  is,  — and  how  we  must  try  to  live  for  Him,  —  both 
of  us." 

A  sort  of  cloud  passed  over  Moses'  brow.  He  looked 
embarrassed,  and  there  was  a  pause  between  them,  and  then 
he  turned  the  conversation. 

Mara  felt  pained ;  it  was  like  a  sudden  discord ;  such 
thoughts  and  feelings  were  the  very  breath  of  her  life ;  she 
could  not  speak  in  perfect  confidence  and  unreserve,  as  she 
then  spoke,  without  uttering  them  ;  and  her  finely  organized 
nature  felt  a  sort  of  electric  consciousness  of  repulsion  and 
dissent. 

She  grew  abstracted,  and  they  walked  on  in  silence. 

"  I  see  now,  Mara,  I  have  pained  you,"  said  Moses,  "  but 
there  are  a  class  of  feelings  that  you  have  that  I  have  not 
and  cannot  have.  No,  I  cannot  feign  anything.  I  can  un 
derstand  what  religion  is  in  you,  —  I  can  admire  its  results. 
I  can  be  happy,  if  it  gives  you  any  comfort ;  but  people  are 
differently  constituted.  J  never  can  feel  as  you  do." 

"  Oh,  don't  say  never"  said  Mara,  with  an  intensity  that 
nearly  startled  him  ;  "  it  has  been  the  one  prayer,  the  one 
hope,  of  my  life,  that  you  might  have  these  comforts,  —  this 
peace." 

"  I  need  no  comfort  or  peace  except  what  I  shall  find  in 
you,"  said  Moses,  drawing  her  to  himself,  and  looking  admir 
ingly  at  her  ;  "  but  pray  for  me  still.  I  always  thought  that 
rny  wife  must  be  one  of  the  sort  of  women  who  pray." 

"  And  why  ?  "  said  Mara,  in  surprise. 

"  Because  I  need  to  be  loved  a  great  deal,  and  it  is  only 
that  kind  who  pray  who  know  how  to  love  really.  If  you 
had  not  prayed  for  me  all  this  time,  you  never  would  have 
loved  me  in  spite  of  all  my  faults,  as  you  did,  and  do,  and 


***/   \   ^ 

348  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

will,  as  I  know  you  will,"  he  said,  folding  her  in  his  arms ; 
and  in  his  secret  heart  he  said,  "Some  of  this  intensity,  this 
devotion,  which  went  upward  to  heaven,  will  be  mine  one 
day.  She  will  worship  me." 

"  The  fact  is,  Mara,"  he  said,  "  I  am  a  child  of  this  world. 
I  have  no  sympathy  with  things  not  seen.  You  are  a  half- 
spiritual  creature,  —  a  child  of  air ;  and  but  for  the  great 
woman's  heart  in  you,  I  should  feel  that  you  were  something 
uncanny  and  unnatural.  I  am  selfish,  I  know ;  I  frankly 
admit,  I  never  disguised  it ;  but  I  love  your  religion  because 
it  makes  you  love  me.  It  is  an  incident  to  that  loving,  trust 
ing  nature  which  makes  you  all  and  wholly  mine,  as  I  want 
you  to  be.  I  want  you  all  and  wholly ;  every  thought, 
every  feeling,  —  the  whole  strength  of  your  being.  I  don't 
care  if  I  say  it :  I  would  not  wish  to  be  second  in  your 
heart  even  to  God  himself!  " 

"  Oh,  Moses  ! "  said  Mara,  almost  starting  away  from  him, 
"  such  words  are  dreadful ;  they  will  surely  bring  evil  upon 
us." 

"  I  only  breathed  out  my  nature  as  you  did  yours,  x  Why 
should  you  love  an  unseen  and  distant  Being  more  than  you 
do  one  whom  you  can  feel  and  see,  who  .holds  you  in  his 
arms,  whose  heart  beats  like  your  own  ?"^_A 
/  "  Moses,"  said  Mara,  stopping  and  looking  at  him  in  the 
I  clear  moonlight,  "  God  has  always  been  to  me  not  so  much 
like  a  father  as  like  a  dear  and  tender  mother.  Perhaps  it 
was  because  I  was  a  poor  orphan,  arid  my  father  and  mother 
died  at  my  birth,  that  He  has  been  so  loving  to  me.  I  never 
remember  the  time  when  I  did  not  feel  his  presence  in  my 
joys  and  my  sorrows.  I  never  had  a  thought  of  joy  and 
sorrow  that  I  could  not  say  to  Him.  I  never  woke  in  the 
night  that  I  did  not  feel  that  He  was  loving  and  watching 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  349 

me,  and  that  I  loved  Him  in  return.     Oh,  how  many,  many 
things  I  have  said  to  Him  about  you  !    My  heart  would  have 
broken  years  ago,  had  it  not  been  for  Him  ;  because,  though    / 
you  did  not  know  it,  you  often  seemed  unkind  ;,  you  hurt  me  I 
very  often  when  you  did  not  mean  to.     His  love  is  so  much 
a  part  of  my  life  that  I  cannot  conceive  of  life  without  it. 
It  is  the  very  air  I  breathe." 

Moses  stood  still  a  moment,  for  Mara  spoke  with  a  fer 
vor  that  affected  him ;  then  he  drew  her  to  his  heart?  and 
said,  — 

"  Oh,  what  could  ever  make  you  love  me  ?  " 

"  He  sent  you  and  gave  you  to  me,"  she  answered,  "  to  be 
mine  in  time  and  eternity." 

The  words  were  spoken  in  a  kind  of  enthusiasm  so  differ 
ent  from  the  usual  reserve  of  Mara,  that  they  seemed  like  a 
prophecy.  That  night,  for  the  first  time  in  her  life,  had  she 
broken  the  reserve  which  was  her  very  nature,  and  spoken 
of  that  which  was  the  intimate  and  hidden  history  of  her 
soul. 


350  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

"  AND  so,"  said  Mrs.  Captain  Badger  to  Miss  Roxy  Tooth- 
acre,  "  it  seems  that  Moses  Fennel  a'n't  going  to  have  Sally 
Kittridge  after  all,  —  he  's  engaged  to  Mara  Lincoln." 

"  More  shame  for  him,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  with  a  frown 
that  made  her  mohair  curls  look  really  tremendous. 

Miss  Roxy  and  Mrs.  Badger  were  the  advance  party  at 
a  quilting,  to  be  holden  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Sewell,  and  had 
come  at  one  o'clock  to  do  the  marking  upon  the  quilt,  which 
was  to  be  filled  up  by  the  busy  fingers  of  all  the  women  in 
the  parish.  Said  quilt  was  to  have  a  bordering  of  a  pattern 
commonly  denominated  in  those  parts  clam-shell,  and  this 
Miss  Roxy  was  diligently  marking  with  indigo. 

"  What  makes  you  say  so,  now  ? "  said  Mrs.  Badger,  a 
fat,  comfortable,  motherly  matron,  who  always  patronized 
the  last  matrimonial  venture  that  put  forth  among  the  young 
people. 

"  What  business  had  he  to  flirt  and  gallivant  all  summer 
with  Sally  Kittridge,  and  make  everybody  think  he  was 
going  to  have  her,  and  then  turn  round  to  Mara  Lincoln  at 
the  last  minute  ?  I  wish  I  'd  been  in  Mara's  place." 

In  Miss  Roxy's  martial  enthusiasm,  she  gave  a  sudden 
poke  to  her  frisette,  giving  to  it  a  diagonal  bristle  which 
extremely  increased  its  usually  severe  expression  ;  and  any 
one  contemplating  her  at  the  moment  would  have  thought 
that  for  Moses  Fennel  or  any  other  young  man  to  come  with 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  351 

tender  propositions  in  that  direction,  would  have  been  in 
deed  a  venturesome  enterprise. 

"  I  tell  you  what  't  is,  Mis'  Badger,"  she  said,  "  I  Ve 
known  Mara  since  she  was  born,  —  I  may  say  I  fetched 
her  up  myself,  for  if  I  had  n't  trotted  and  tended  her  the"m 
first  four  weeks  of  her  life,  Mis'  Fennel  'd  never  have  got 
her  through  ;  and  I  Ve  watched  her  every  year  since  ;  and 
havin'  Moses  Fennel  is  the  only  silly  thing  I  ever  knew  her 
to  do  ;  but  you  never  can  tell  what  a  girl  will  do  when  it 
comes  to  marryin',  —  never  !  " 

"  But  he  's  a  real  stirrin',  likely  young  man,  and  captain 
of  a  fine  ship,"  said  Mrs.  Badger. 

"  Don't  care  if  he  's  captain  of  twenty  ships,"  said  Miss 
Roxy,  obdurately ;  "  he  a'n't  a  professor  of  religion,  and 
I  believe  he  's  an  infidel,  and  she  's  one  of  the  Lord's 
people." 

"  Well,"  said  Mrs.  Badger,  "  you  know  the  unbelievin' 
husband  shall  be  sanctified  by  the  believin'  wife." 

"  Much  sanctifyin'  he  '11  get,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  contemp 
tuously.  *'*  I  don't  believe  he  loves  her  any  more  than  fancy ; 
she  's  the  last  plaything,  and  when  he  's  got  her,  he  '11  be 
tired  of  her,  as  he  always  was  with  anything  he  got  ever 
since.  I  tell  you,  Moses  Fennel  is  all  for  pride  and  ambi 
tion  and  the  world  ;  and  his  wife,  when  he  gets  used  to  her, 
'11  be  only  a  circumstance,  —  that 's  all." 

"  Come,  now,  Miss  Roxy,"  said  Miss  Emily,  who  in  her 
best  silk  and  smoothly-brushed  hair  had  just  come  in,  "  we 
must  not  let  you  talk  so.  Moses  Fennel  has  had  long  talks 
with  brother,  and  he  thinks  him  in  a  very  hopeful  way, 
and  we  are  all  delighted ;  and  as  to  Mara,  she  is  as  fresh 
and  happy  as  a  little  rose." 

"  So  I  tell  Roxy,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  who  had  been  absent 


352  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

from  the  room  to  hold  private  consultations  with  Miss  Emily 
concerning  the  biscuits  and  sponge-cake  for  tea,  and  who 
now  sat  down  to  the  quilt  and  began  to  unroll  a  capacious 
and  very  limp  calico  thread-case  ;  and  placing  her  specta 
cles  awry  on  her  little  pug  nose,  she  began  a  series  of  in 
genious  dodges  with  her  thread,  designed  to  hit  the  eye  of 
her  needle. 

"  The  old  folks,"  she  continued,  "  are  e'en  a'most  tickled 
to  pieces,  —  'cause  they  think  it  '11  jist  be  the  salvation  of 
him  to  get  Mara." 

"  I  a'n't  one  of  the  sort  that  wants  to  be  a-usin'  up  girls 
for  the  salvation  of  fellers,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  severely. 
"  Ever  since  he  nearly  like  to  have  got  her  eat  up  by 
sharks,  by  giggiting  her  off  in  the  boat  out  to  sea  when  she 
wa'  n't  more  'n  three  years  old,  I  always  have  thought  he 
was  a  misfortin'  in  that  family,  and  I  think  so  now." 

Here  broke  in  Mrs.  Eaton,  a  thrifty  energetic  widow  of 
a  deceased  sea-captain,  who  had  been  left  with  a  tidy  little 
fortune  which  commanded  the  respect  of  the  neighborhood. 
Mrs.  Eaton  had  entered  silently  during  the  discussion,  but 
of  course  had  come,  as  every  other  woman  had  that  after 
noon,  with  views  to  be  expressed  upon  the  subject. 

"  For  my  part,"  she  said,  as  she  stuck  a  decisive  needle 
into  the  first  clam-shell  pattern,  "  /  a'n't  so  sure  that  all 
the  advantage  in  this  match  is  on  Moses  Fennel's  part. 
Mara  Lincoln  is  a  good  little  thing,  but  she  a'n't  fitted  to 
help  a  man  along,  —  she  '11  always  be  wantin'  somebody  to 
help  her.  Why,  I  'member  goin'  a  voyage  with  Cap'n 
Eaton,  when  I  saved  the  ship,  if  anybody  did,  —  it  was 
allowed  on  all  hands.  Cap'n  Eaton  was  n't  hearty  at  that 
time,  he  was  jist  gettin'  up  from  a  fever,  —  it  was  when 
Marthy  Ann  was  a  baby,  and  I  jist  took  her  and  went  to 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  353 

sea  and  took  care  of  him.  I  used  to  work  the  longitude  for 
him  and  help  him  lay  the  ship's  course  when  his  head  was 
bad,  —  and  when  we  came  on  the  coast,  we  were  kept  out 
of  harbor  beatin'  about  nearly  three  weeks,  and  all  the 
ship's  tacklin'  was  stiff  with  ice,  and  I  tell  you  the  men 
never  would  have  stood  it  through  and  got  the  ship  in,  if  it 
had  n't  been  for  me.  I  kept  their  mittens  and  stockings  all 
the  while  a-dryin'  at  my  stove  in  the  cabin,  and  hot  coffee 
all  the  while  a-boilin'  for  'em,  or  I  believe  they  'd  a-frozen 
their  hands  and  feet,  and  never  been  able  to  work  the  ship 
in.  That 's  the  way  /  did.  Now  Sally  Kittridge  is  a  great 
deal  more  like  that  than  Mara." 

"  There  's  no  doubt  that  Sally  is  smart,"  said  Mrs.  Bad 
ger,  "but  then  it  a'n't  every  one  can  do  like  you,  Mrs. 
Eaton." 

"  Oh  no,  oh  no,"  was  murmured  from  mouth  to  mouth ; 
"  Mrs.  Eaton  must  n't  think  she  's  any  rule  for  others,  — 
everybody  knows  she  can  do  more  than  most  people;" 
—  whereat  the  pacified  Mrs.  Eaton  said  "  she  did  n't  know 
as  it  was  anything  remarkable,  —  it  showed  what  anybody 
might  do,  if  they  'd  only  try  and  have  resolution ;  but  that 
Mara  never  had  been  brought  up  to  have  resolution,  —  and 
her  mother  never  had  resolution  before  her,  it  wa'  n't  in 
any  of  Mary  Fennel's  family,  —  she  knew  their  grand 
mother  and  all  their  aunts,  and  they  were  all  a  weakly  set, 
and  not  fitted  to  get  along  in  life,  —  they  were  a  kind  of 
people  that  somehow  did  n't  seem  to  know  how  to  take  hold 
of  things." 

At  this  moment  the  consultation  was  hushed  up  by  the 
entrance  of  Sally  Kittridge  and  Mara,  evidently  on  the 
closest  terms  of  intimacy,  and  more  than  usually  demon 
strative  and  affectionate,  —  they. would  sit  together  and  use 


354  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

each  other's  needles,  scissors,  thread,  and  thimbles  inter 
changeably,  as  if  anxious  to  express  every  minute  the  most 
overflowing  confidence.  Sly  winks  and  didactic  nods  were 
covertly  exchanged  among  the  elderly  people,  and  when  Mrs. 
Kittridge  entered  with  more  than  usual  airs  of  impressive 
solemnity,  several  of  these  were  covertly  directed  toward 
her,  as  a  matron  whose  views  in  life  must  have  been  con 
siderably  darkened  by  the  recent  event. 

Mrs.  Kittridge,  however,  found  an  opportunity  to  whisper 
under  her  breath  to  Miss  Ruey  what  a  relief  to  her  it  was 
that  the  affair  had  taken  such  a  turn.  She  had  felt  uneasy 
all  summer  for  fear  of  what  might  come.  Sally  was  so 
thoughtless  and  worldly,  she  felt  afraid  that  he  would  lead 
her  astray.  She  did  n't  see,  for  her  part,  how  a  professor 
of  religion  like  Mara  could  make  up  her  mind  to  such  an 
unsettled  kind  of  fellow,  even  if  he  did  seem  to  be  rich  and 
well  to  do.  But  then  she  had  done  looking  for  consistency ; 
and  she  sighed  and  vigorously  applied  herself  to  quilting 
like  one  who  has  done  with  the  world. 

In  return,  Miss  Ruey  sighed  and  took  snuff,  and  related 
for  the  hundredth  time  to  Mrs.  Kittridge  the  great  escape 
she  once  had  from  the  addresses  of  Abraham  Peters,  who 
had  turned  out  a  "  poor  drunken  creetur."  But  then  it  was 
only  natural  that  Mara  should  be  interested  in  Moses  ;  and 
the  good  soul  went  off  into  her  favorite  verse  :  — 

"  The  fondness  of  a  creature's  love, 
How  strong  it  strikes  the  sense ! 
Thither  the  warm  affections  move, 
Nor  can  we  drive  them  thence." 

In  fact,  Miss  Ruey's  sentimental  vein  was  in  quite  a  gushing 
state,  for  she  more  than  once  extracted  from  the  dark  cor 
ners  of  the  limp  calico  thread-case  we  have  spoken  of  cer- 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  355 

tain  long-treasured  morceaux  of  newspaper  poetry,  of  a 
tender  and  sentimental  cast,  which  she  had  laid  up  with 
true  Yankee  economy,  in  case  any  one  should  ever  be  in 
a  situation  to  need  them.  They  related  principally  to  the 
union  of  kindred  hearts,  and  the  joys  of  reciprocated  feel 
ing,  and  the  pains  of  absence.  Good  Miss  Ruey  occasion 
ally  passed  these  to  Mara,  with  glances  full  of  meaning, 
which  caused  the  poor  old  thing  to  resemble  a  sentimental 
goblin,  keeping  Sally  Kittridge  in  a  perfect  hysterical  tem 
pest  of  suppressed  laughter,  and  making  it  difficult  for  Mara 
to  preserve  the  decencies  of  life  toward  her  well-intending 
old  friend.  The  trouble  with  poor  Miss  Ruey  was  that, 
while  her  body  had  grown  old  and  crazy,  her  soul  was  just 
as  juvenile  as  ever,  —  and  a  simple,  juvenile  soul  disporting 
itself  in  a  crazy,  battered  old  body,  is  at  great  disadvantage. 
It  was  lucky  for  her,  however,  that  she  lived  in  the  most 
sacred  unconsciousness  of  the  ludicrous  effect  of  her  little 
indulgences,  and  the  pleasure  she  took  in  them  was  certainly 
of  the  most  harmless  kind.  The  world  would  be  a  far  better 
and  more  enjoyable  place  than  it  is,  if  all  people  who  are 
old  and  uncomely  could  find  amusement  as  innocent  and 
Christian-like  as  Miss  Ruey's  inoffensive  thread-case  collec 
tion  of  sentimental  truisms. 

This  quilting  of  which  we  speak  was  a  solemn,  festive 
occasion  of  the  parish,  held  a  week  after  Moses  had  sailed 
away ;  and  so  piquant  a  morsel  as  a  recent  engagement 
could  not,  of  course,  fail  to  be  served  up  for  the  company 
in  every  variety  of  garnishing  which  individual  tastes  might 
suggest. 

It  became  an  ascertained  fact,  however,  in  the  course  of 
the  evening  festivities,  that  the  minister  was  serenely  appro- 
bative  of  the  event ;  that  Captain  Kittridge  was  at  length 


356  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

brought  to  a  sense  of  the  errors  of  his  way  in  supposing 
that  Sally  had  ever  cared  a  pin  for  Moses  more  than  as  a 
mutual  friend  and  confidant ;  and  the  great  affair  was  set 
tled  without  more  ripples  of  discomposure  than  usually  attend 
similar  announcements  in  more  refined  society. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  357 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

THE  quilting  broke  up  at  the  primitive  hour  of  nine 
o'clock,  at  which,  in  early  New  England  days,  all  social 
gatherings  always  dispersed.  Captain  Kittridge  rowed  his 
helpmeet,  with  Mara  and  Sally,  across  the  Bay  to  the 
island. 

"  Come  and  stay  with  me  to-night,  Sally,"  said  Mara. 

"  I  think  Sally  had  best  be  at  home,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 
"  There  'a  no  sense  in  girls  talking  all  night." 

"  There  a'n't  sense  in  nothin'  else,  mother,"  said  the  Cap 
tain.  "  Next  to  sparkin',  which  is  the  Christianist  thing  I 
knows  on,  comes  gals'  talks  'bout  their  sparks,  —  they  's  as 
natural  as  crowsfoot  and  red  columbines  in  the  spring,  and 
spring  don't  come  but  once  a  year  neither,  —  and  so  let  'em 
take  the  comfort  on 't.  I  warrant  now,  Polly,  you  've  laid 
awake  nights  and  talked  about  me." 

"  We  've  all  been  foolish  once,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge. 

"  Well,  mother,  we  want  to  be  foolish  too,"  said  Sally. 

"  Well,  you  and  your  father  are  too  much  for  me,"  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge,  plaintively ;  "  you  always  get  your  own 
way." 

"  How  lucky  that  my  way  is  always  a  good  one ! "  said 
Sally. 

"  Well,  you  know,  Sally,  you  are  going  to  make  the  beer 
to-morrow,"  still  objected  her  mother. 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  that 's  another  reason,"  said  Sally.      "  Mara 


358  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

and  I  shall  come  home  through  the  woods  in  the  morning, 
and  we  can  get  whole  apronfuls  of  young  wintergreen,  and 
besides,  I  know  where  there  's  a  lot  of  sassafras  root.  We  '11 
dig  it,  won't  we,  Mara  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  and  I  '11  come  down  and  help  you  brew,"  said 
Mara.  "  Don't  you  remember  the  beer  I  made  when  Moses 
came  home  ?  " 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  remember,"  said  the  Captain,  "  you  sent  us 
a  couple  of  bottles." 

"  We  can  make  better  yet  now,"  said  Mara.  "  The 
wintergreen  is  young,  and  the  green  tips  on  the  spruce 
boughs  are  so  full  of  strength.  Everything  is  lively  and 
sunny  now." 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  the  Captain,  "  and  I  'spect  I  know  why 
things  do  look  pretty  lively  to  some  folks,  don't  they  ? " 

"  I  don't  know  what  sort  of  work  you  '11  make  of  the 
beer  among  you,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge ;  "  but  you  must 
have  it  your  own  way." 

Mrs.  Kittridge,  who  never  did  anything  else  among  her 
tea-drinking  acquaintances  but  laud  and  magnify  Sally's 
good  traits  and  domestic  acquirements,  felt  constantly  bound 
to  keep  up  a  faint  show  of  controversy  and  authority  in  her 
dealings  with  her,  —  the  fading  remains  of  the  strict  gov 
ernment  of  her  childhood ;  but  it  was,  nevertheless,  very 
perfectly  understood,  in  a  general  way,  that  Sally  was  to 
do  as  she  pleased ;  and  so,  when  the  boat  came  to  shore, 
she  took  the  arm  of  Mara  and  started  up  toward  the  brown 
house. 

The  air  was  soft  and  balmy,  and  though  the  moon  by 
which  the  troth  of  Mara  and  Moses  had  been  plighted  had 
waned  into  the  latest  hours  of  the  night,  still  a  thousand 
Btars  were  lying  in  twinkling  brightness,  reflected  from  the 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  359 

undulating  waves  all  around  them,  and  the  tide,  as  it  rose 
and  fell,  made  a  sound  as  gentle  and  soft  as  the  respiration 
of  a  peaceful  sleeper. 

"  Well,  Mara,"  said  Sally,  after  an  interval  of  silence, 
"  all  has  come  out  right.  You  see  that  it  was  you  whom 
he  loved.  What  a  lucky  thing  for  me  that  I  am  made  so 
heartless,  or  I  might  not  be  as  glad  as  I  am." 

"  You  are  not  heartless,  Sally,"  said  Mara  ;  "  it 's  the  en 
chanted  princess  asleep ;  the  right  one  has  n't  come  to  waken 
her." 

"  Maybe  so,"  said  Sally,  with  her  old  light  laugh.  "  If 
I  only  were  sure  he  would  make  you  happy  now,  —  half 
as  happy  as  you  deserve,  —  I  'd  forgive  him  his  share  of 
this  summer's  mischief.  The  fault  was  just  half  mine,  you 
see,  for  I  witched  with  him.  I  confess  it.  I  have  my  own 
little  spider-webs  for  these  great  lordly  flies,  and  I  like  to 
hear  them  buzz." 

"  Take  care,  Sally ;  never  do  it  again,  or  the  spider-web 
may  get  round  you,"  said  Mara. 

"  Never  fear  me,"  said  Sally.  "  But,  Mara,  I  wish  I  felt 
sure  that  Moses  could  make  you  happy.  Do  you  really, 
now,  when  you  think  seriously,  feel  as  if  he  would  ?  " 

"  I  never  thought  seriously  about  it,"  said  Mara ;  "  but 
I  know  he  needs  me ;  that  I  can  do  for  him  what  no  one 
else  can.  I  have -always  felt  all  my  life  that  he  was  to  be 
mine ;  that  he  was  sent  to  me,  ordained  for  me  to  care  for 
and  to  love." 

"  You  are  well  mated,"  said  Sally.  "  He  wants  to  be 
loved  very'  much,  and  you  want  to  love.  There  's  the  ac 
tive  and  passive  voice,  as  they  used  to  say  at  Miss  Pluch- 
er's.  But  yet  in  your  natures  you  are  opposite  as  any  two 
could  well  be." 


360  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Mara  felt  that  there  was  in  these  chance  words  of  Sally 
more  than  she  perceived.  No  one  could  feel  as  intensely 
as  she  could  that  the  mind  and  heart  so  dear  to  her  were 
yet,  as  to  all  that  was  most  vital  and  real  in  her  inner  life, 
unsympathizing.  To  her  the  spiritual  world  was  a  reality ; 
God  an  ever-present  consciousness ;  and  the  line  of  this 
present  life  seemed  so  to  melt  and  lose  itself  in  the  antici 
pation  of  a  future  and  brighter  one,  that  it  was  impossible 
for  her  to  speak  intimately  and  not  unconsciously  to  betray 
the  fact.  To  him  there  was  only  the  life  of  this  world ; 
there  was  no  present  God ;  and  from  all  thought  of  a  future 
life  he  shrank  with  a  shuddering  aversion,  as  from  some 
thing  ghastly  and  unnatural.  She  had  realized  this  differ 
ence  more  in  the  few  days  that  followed  her  betrothal  than 
all  her  life  before,  for  now  first  the  barrier  of  mutual  con 
straint  and  misunderstanding  having  melted  away,  each 
spoke  with  an  abandon  and  unreserve  which  made  the 
acquaintance  more  vitally  intimate  than  ever  it  had  been 
before.  [  It  was  then  that  Mara  felt  that  while  her  sympa 
thies  could  follow  him  through  all  his  plans  and  interests, 
there  was  a  whole  world  of  thought  and  feeling  in  her  heart 
where  his  could  not  follow  her;  and  she  asked  herself, 
Would  it  be  so  always  ?j  Must  she  walk  at  his  side  for 
ever  repressing  the  utterance  of  that  which  was  most  sacred 
and  intimate,  living  in  a  nominal  and  external  communion 
only  ?  How  could  it  be  that  what  was  so  lovely  and  clear 
in  its  reality  to  her,  that  which  was  to  her  as  life-blood, 
that  which  was  the  vital  air  in  which  she  lived  and  moved 
and  had  her  being,  could  be  absolutely  nothing  to  him  ? 
Was  it  really  possible,  as  he  said,  that  God  had  no  existence 
for  him  except  in  a  nominal  cold  belief;  that  the  spiritual 
world  was  to  him  only  a  land  of  pale  shades  and  doubtful 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  361 

glooms,  from  which  he  shrank  with  dread,  and  the  least 
allusion  to  which  was  distasteful  ?  and  would  this  always  be 
so  ?  and  if  so,  could  she  be  happy  ? 

But  Mara  said  the  truth  in  saying  that  the  question  of 
personal  happiness  never  entered  her  thoughts.  She  loved 
Moses  in  a  way  that  made  it  necessary  to  her  happiness  to 
devote  herself  to  him,  to  watch  over  and  care  for  him  ;  and 
though  she  knew  not  how,  she  felt  a  sort  of  presentiment 
that  it  was  through  her  that  he  must  be  brought  into  sym 
pathy  with  a  spiritual  and  immortal  life. 
~~~  All  this  passed  through  Mara's  mind  in  the  revery  into 
which  Sally's  last  words  threw  her,  as  she  sat  on  the  door- 
sill  and  looked  off  into  the  starry  distance  and  heard  the 
weird  murmur  of  the  sea. 

"  How  lonesome  the  sea  at  night  always  is/'  said  Sally.  "  I 
declare,  Mara,  I  don't  wonder  you  miss  that  creature,  for,  to 
tell  the  truth,  /do  a  little  bit.  It  was  something,  you  know, 
to  have  somebody  to  come  in,  and  to  joke  with,  and  to  say 
how  he  liked  one's  hair  and  one's  ribbons,  and  all  that.  I 
quite  got  up  a  friendship  for  Moses,  so  that  I  can  feel  how 
dull  you  must  be  ; "  and  Sally  gave  a  half  sigh,  and  then 
whistled  a  tune  as  adroitly  as  a  blackbird. 

"Yes,"  said  Mara,  "we  two  girls  down  on  this  lonely 
island  need  some  one  to  connect  us  with  the  great  world  ; 
and  he  was  so  full  of  life,  and  so  certain  and  confident,  he 
seemed  to  open  a  way  before  one  out  into  life." 

"  Well,  of  course,  while  he  is  gone  there  will  be  plenty  to 
do  getting  ready  to  be  married,"  said  Sally.  "  By  the  by, 
when  I  was  over  to  Portland  the  other  day,  Maria  Potter 
showed  me  a  new  pattern  for  a  bed-quilt,  the  swreetest  thing 
you  can  imagine,  —  it  is  called  the  morning  star.  There  is 

16 


6y{' 


362  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

a  great  star  in  the  centre,  and  little  stars  all  around,  —  white 
on  a  blue  ground.  I  mean  to  begin  one  for  you." 

"  I  am  going  to  begin  spinning  some  very  fine  flax  next 
week,"  said  Mara ;  "  and  have  I  shown  you  the  new  pattern 
I  drew  for  a  counterpane  ?  it  is  to  be  morning-glories,  leaves 
and  flowers,  you  know,  —  a  pretty  idea,  is  n't  it  ?  " 

And  so,  the  conversation  falling  from  the  region  of  the 
sentimental  to  the  practical,  the  two  girls  went  in  and  spent 
an  hour  in  discussions  so  purely  feminine  that  we  will  not 
enlighten  the  reader  further  therewith.  Sally  seemed  to  be 
investing  all  her  energies  in  the  preparation  of  the  wedding 
outfit  of  her  friend,  about  which  she  talked  with  a  constant 
and  restless  activity,  and  for  which  she  formed  a  thousand 
plans,  and  projected  shopping  tours  to  Portland,  Brunswick, 
and  even  to  Boston,  —  this  last  being  about  as  far  off  a  ven 
ture  at  that  time  as  Paris  now  seems  to  a  Boston  belle. 

"  When  you  are  married,"  said  Sally,  "  you  '11  have  to 
take  me  to  live  with  you  ;  that  creature  sha'n't  have  you  all 
to  himself.  I  hate  men,  they  are  so  exorbitant,  —  they 
spoil  all  our  playmates ;  and  what  shall  I  do  when  you  are 
gone  ?  " 

"  You  will  go  with  Mr.  —  what 's  his  name  ? "  said 
Mara. 

"  Pshaw,  I  don't  know  him.  I  shall  be  an  old  maid," 
said  Sally ;  "  and  really  there  is  n't  much  harm  in  that  if 
one  could  have  company,  —  if  somebody  or  other  would  n't 
marry  all  one's  friends,  —  that 's  lonesome,"  she  said,  wink- 
.  ing  a  tear  out  of  her  black  eyes  and  laughing.  "  If  I  were 
only  a  young  fellow  now,  Mara,  I  'd  have  you  myself,  and 
that  would  be  just  the  thing  ;  and  I  'd  shoot  Moses,  if  he 
said  a  word ;  and  I  'd  have  money,  and  I  'd  have  honors, 
and  I  'd  carry  you  off  to  Europe,  and  take  you  to  Paris  and 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  363 

Rome,  and  nobody  knows  where ;  and  we  'd  live  in  peace, 
as  the  story-books  say." 

"  Come,  Sally,  how  wild  you  are  talking,"  said  Mara ; 
"  and  the  clock  has  just  struck  one ;  let 's  try  to  go  to  sleep." 

Sally  put  her  face  to  Mara's  and  kissed  her,  and  Mara 
felt  a  moist  spot  on  her  cheek,  —  could  it  be  a  tear? 


364  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

AUNT  ROXY  and  Aunt  Ruey  Toothacre  lived  in  a  little 
one-story  gambrel-roofed  cottage,  on  the  side  of  Harpswell 
Bay,  just  at  the  head  of  the  long  cove  which  we  have  al 
ready  described.  The  windows  on  two  sides  commanded 
the  beautiful  bay  and  the  opposite  shores,  and  on  the  other 
they  looked  out  into  the  dense  forest,  through  whose  deep 
shadows  of  white  birch  and  pine  the  silver  rise  and  fall  of 
the  sea  daily  revealed  itself. 

The  house  itself  was  a  miracle  of  neatness  within,  for  the 
two  thrifty  sisters  were  worshippers  of  soap  and  sand,  and 
these  two  tutelary  deities  had  kept  every  board  of  the  house- 
floor  white  and  smooth,  and  also  every  table  and  bench  and 
tub  of  household  use.  There  was  a  sacred  care  over  each 
article,  however  small  and  insignificant,  which  composed 
their  slender  household  stock.  The  loss  or  breakage  of  one 
of  them  would  have  made  a  visible  crack  in  the  hearts  of  the 
worthy  sisters,  —  for  every  plate,  knife,  fork,  spoon,  cup,  or 
glass  was  as  intimate  with  them,  as  instinct  with  home  feel 
ing,  as  if  it  had  a  soul ;  each  defect  or  spot  had  its  history, 
and  a  cracked  dish  or  article  of  furniture  received  as  tender 
and  considerate  medical  treatment  as  if  it  were  capable  of 
understanding  and  feeling  the  attention.  1 

It  was  now  a  warm,  spicy  day  in  June,  —  one  of  those 
which  bring  out  the  pineapple  fragrance  from  the  fir-shoots, 
and  cause  the  spruce  and  hemlocks  to  exude  a  warm,  resinous 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  365 

perfume.  The  two  sisters,  for  a  wonder,  were  having  a  day 
to  themselves,  free  from  the  numerous  calls  of  the  vicinity 
for  twelve  miles  round.  The  room  in  which  they  were  sit 
ting  was  bestrewn  with  fragments  of  dresses  and  bonnets, 
which  were  being  torn  to  pieces  in  a  most  wholesale  way, 
with  a  view  to  a  general  rejuvenescence.  A  person  of  un 
sympathetic  temperament,  and  disposed  to  take  sarcastic 
views  of  life,  might  perhaps  wonder  what  possible  object 
these  two  battered  and  weather-beaten  old  bodies  proposed 
to  themselves  in  this  process,  —  whether  Miss  Roxy's  gaunt 
black-straw  helmet,  which  she  had  worn  defiantly  all  winter, 
was  likely  to  receive  much  lustre  from  being  pressed  over 
and  trimmed  with  an  old  green  ribbon  which  that  energetic 
female  had  colored  black  by  a  domestic  recipe ;  and  whether 
Miss  Roxy's  rusty  bombazette  would  really  seem  to  the 
world  any  fresher  for  being  ripped,  and  washed,  and  turned, 
for  the  second  or  third  time,  and  made  over  with  every 
breadth  in  a  different  situation.  Probably  after  a  week  of 
efficient  labor,  busily  expended  in  bleaching,  dyeing,  pressing, 
sewing,  and  ripping,  an  unenlightened  spectator,  seeing  them 
come  into  the  meeting-house,  would  simply  think,  "  There 
are  those  two  old  frights  with  the  same  old  things  on  they 
have  worn  these  fifty  years."  Happily  the  weird  sisters 
were  contentedly  ignorant  of  any  such  remarks,  for  no  duch 
esses  could  have  enjoyed  a  more  quiet  belief  in  their  own 
social  position,  and  their  semiannual  spring  and  fall  reha 
bilitation  was  therefore  entered  into  with  the  most  simple- 
hearted  satisfaction. 

"I'm  a-thinkin',  Roxy,"  said  Aunt  Ruey,  considerately 
turning  and  turning  on  her  hand  an  old  straw  bonnet,  on 
which  were  streaked  all  the  marks  of  the  former  trimming  in 
lighter  lines,  which  revealed  too  clearly  the  effects  of  wind 


366  THE  PEARL  OF  OER'S  ISLAND. 

and  weather,  —  "  I  'm  a-thinkin' 
might  n't  as  well  be  dyed  and  done  with  it  as  try  to  bleach 
it  out.  I  've  had  it  ten  years  last  May,  and  it 's  kind  o' 
losin'  its  freshness,  you  know.  I  don't  believe  these  'ere 
streaks  will  bleach  out." 

"Never  mind,  Ruey,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  authoritatively, 
"  I  'm  goin'  to  do  Mis'  Badger's  leg'orn,  and  it  won't  cost 
nothin' ;  so  hang  your'n  in  the  barrel  along  with  it,  —  the 
same  smoke  '11  do  'em  both.  Mis'  Badger  she  finds  the 
brimstone,  and  next  fall  you  can  put  it  in  the  dye  when  we 
do  the  yarn." 

"  That  ar  straw  is  a  beautiful  straw  !  "  said  Miss  Ruey,  in 
a  plaintive  tone,  tenderly  examining  the  battered  old  head 
piece,  —  "I  braided  every  stroke  on  't  myself,  and  I  don't 
know  as  I  could  do  it  ag'in.  My  fingers  a'n't  quite  so  lim 
ber  as  they  was  !  I  don't  think  I  shall  put  green  ribbon  on 
it  ag'in  ;  'cause  green  is  such  a  color  to  ruin,  if  a  body  gets 
caught  out  in  a  shower  !  There  's  these  green  streaks  come 
that  day  I  left  my  amberil  at  Captain  Broad's,  and  went  to 
meetin'.  Mis'  Broad  she  says  to  me,  '  Aunt  Ruey,  it  won't 
rain.'  And  says  I  to  her,  '  Well,  Mis'  Broad,  I  '11  try  it ; 
though  I  never  did  leave  my  amberil  at  home  but  what  it 
rained.'  And  so  I  went,  and  sure  enough  it  rained  cats  and 
dogs,  and  streaked  my  bonnet  all  up ;  and  them  ar  streaks 
won't  bleach  out,  I  'm  feared." 

"  How  long  is  it  Mis'  Badger  has  had  that  ar  leg'orn  ?  " 

"  Why,  you  know,  the  Cap'n  he  brought  it  home  when  he 
came  from  his  voyage  from  Marseilles.  That  ar  was  when 
Phebe  Ann  was  born,  and  she  's  fifteen  year  old.  It  was 
a  most  elegant  thing  when  he  brought  it;  but  I  think  it 
kind  o'  led  Mis'  Badger  on  to  extravagant  ways,  —  for  get- 
tin'  new  triramin'  spring  and  fall  so  uses  up  money  as  fast  as 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  367 

new  bonnets ;  but  Mis'  Badger 's  got  the  money,  and  she 's 
got  a  right  to  use  it  if  she  pleases  ;  but  if  I  'd  a-had  new 
trimmin's  spring  and  fall,  I  should  n't  a-put  away  what  I 
have  in  the  bank. 

"  Have  you  seen  the  straw  Sally  Kittridge  is  braidin'  for 
Mara  Lincoln's  weddin'  bonnet  ?  "  said  Miss  Ruey.  "  It 's 
jist  the  finest  thing  ever  you  did  see,  —  and  the  whitest.  I 
was  a-tellin'  Sally  that  I  could  do  as  well  once  myself,  but 
my  mantle  was  a-fallin'  on  her.  Sally  don't  seem  to  act  a 
bit  like  a  dissip'inted  gal.  She  is  as  chipper  as  she  can  be 
about  Mara's  weddin',  and  seems  like  she  couldn't  do  too 
much.  But  laws,  everybody  seems  to  want  to  be  a-doin'  for 
her.  Miss  Emily  was  a-showin'  me  a  fine  double  damask 
table-cloth  that  she  was  goin'  to  give  her ;  and  Mis'  Fennel, 
she  's  been  a-spinnin'  and  layin'  up  sheets  and  towels  and 
table-cloths  all  her  life,  —  and  then  she  has  all  Naomi's 
things.  Mis'  Fennel  was  talkin'  to  me  the  other  day  about 
bleachin'  'em  out  'cause  they  'd  got  yellow  a-lyin'.  I  kind  o* 
felt  as  if  't  was  unlucky  to  be  a-fittin'  out  a  bride  with  her 
dead  mother's  things,  but  I  did  n't  like  to  say  nothin'." 

"  Ruey,"  said  Miss  Roxy  impressively,  "  I  ha'  n't  never 
had  but  jist  one  mind  about  Mara  Lincoln's  weddin',  —  it 's 
to  be,  —  but  it  won't  be  the  way  people  think.  I  ha' n't 
nussed  and  watched  and  sot  up  nights  sixty  years  for 
nothin'.  I  can  see  beyond  what  most  folks  can,  —  her 
weddin'  garments  is  bought  and  paid  for,  and  she  '11  wear 
'em,  but  she  won't  be  Moses  Fennel's  wife,  —  now  you  see." 

"  Why,  whose  wife  will  she  be  then  ?  "  said  Miss  Ruey  f 
"'cause  that  ar  Mr.  Adams  is  married.  I  saw  it  in  the 
paper  last  week  when  I  was  up  to  Mis'  Badger's." 

Miss  Roxy  shut  her  lips  with  oracular  sternness  and 
went  on  with  her  sewing. 


368  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Who 's  that  comin'  in  the  back-door  ?  "  said  Miss  Ruey, 
as  the  sound  of  a  footstep  fell  upon  her  ear.  "  Bless  me," 
she  added,  as  she  started  up  to  look,  "  if  folks  a'n't  always 
nearest  when  you  're  talkin'  about  'em.  Why,  Mara ;  you 
come  down  here  and  catched  us  in  all  our  dirt !  Well  now, 
we  're  glad  to  see  you,  if  we  be,"  said  Miss  Ruey. 


THE   PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  369 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

IT  was  in  truth  Mara  herself  who  came  and  stood  in  the 
door-way.  She  appeared  overwearied  with  her  walk,  for  her 
cheeks  had  a  vivid  brightness  unlike  their  usual  tender  pink. 
Her  eyes  had,  too,  a  brilliancy  almost  painful  to  look  upon. 
They  seemed  like  ardent  fires,  in  which  the  life  was  slowly 
burning  away. 

"  Sit  down,  sit  down,  little  Mara,"  said  Aunt  Ruey. 
"  Why,  how  like  a  picture  you  look  this  mornin',  —  one 
need  n't  ask  you  how  you  do,  —  it 's  plain  enough  that  you 
are  pretty  well." 

"  Yes,  I  am,  Aunt  Ruey,"  she  answered,  sinking  into  a 
chair ;  "  only  it  is  warm  to-day,  and  the  sun  is  so  hot,  that 's 
all,  I  believe ;  but  I  am  very  tired." 

"  So  you  are  now,  poor  thing,"  said  Miss  Ruey.  "  Roxy, 
where  's  my  turkey-feather  fan  ?  .Oh,  here  't  is  ;  there,  take 
it,  and  fan  you,  child ;  and  maybe  you  '11  have  a  glass  of  our 
spruce  beer  ?  " 

"  Thank  you,  Aunt  Roxy.  I  brought  you  some  young 
wintergreen,"  said  Mara,  unrolling  from  her  handkerchief  a 
small  knot  of  those  fragrant  leaves,  which  were  wilted  by 
the  heat. 

"  Thank  you,  I  'm  sure,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  in  delight;  "you 

always  fetch  something,  Mara,  —  always  would  ever  since 

you  could  toddle.     Roxy  and  I  was  jist  talkin'  about  your 

weddin'.     I  s'pose  you  're  gettin'  things  well  along  down  to 

16  * 


370  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

your  house.  Well,  here 's  the  beer.  I  don't  hardly  know 
whether  you  '11  think  it  worked  enough  though.  I  set  it 
Saturday  afternoon,  for  all  Mis'  Twitchel  said  it  was  wicked 
for  beer  to  work  Sundays,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  with  a  feeble 
cackle  at  her  own  joke. 

"  Thank  you,  Aunt  Ruey,  it  is  excellent,  as  your  things 
always  are.  I  was  very  thirsty." 

"  I  s'pose  you  hear  from  Moses  pretty  often  now,"  said 
Aunt  Ruey.  "  How  kind  o'  providential  it  happened  about 
his  getting  that  property  ;  he  '11  be  a  rich  man  now  ;  and 
Mara,  you  '11  come  to  grandeur,  won't  you  ?  Well,  I  don't 
know  anybody  deserves  it  more,  —  I  r'ally  don't.  Mis' 
Badger  was  a-sayin'  so  a-Sunday,  and  Cap'n  Kittridge 
and  all  on  'em.  I  s'pose  though  we  've  got  to  lose  you,  — 
you  '11  be  goin'  off  to  Boston  or  New  York,  or  somewhere." 

"  We  can't  tell  what  may  happen,  Aunt  Ruey,"  said  Mara, 
and  there  was  a  slight  tremor  in  her  voice  as  she  spoke. 

Miss  Roxy,  who  beyond  the  first  salutations  bad  taken  no 
part  in  this  conversation,  had  from  time  to  time  regarded 
Mara  over  the  tops  of  her  spectacles  with  looks  of  grave 
apprehension  ;  and  Mara,  looking  up,  now  encountered  one 
of  these  glances. 

"  Have  you  taken  the  dock  and  dandelion  tea  I  told  you 
about  ?  "  said  the  wise  woman,  rather  abruptly. 

"  Yes,  Aunt  Roxy,  I  have  taken  them  faithfully  for  two 
weeks  past." 

"  And  do  they  seem  to  set  you  up  any  ?  "  said  Miss  Roxy. 

"  No,  I  don't  think  they  do.  Grandma  thinks  I  'm  better, 
and  grandpa,  and  I  let  them  think  so ;  but  Miss  Roxy,  can't 
you  think  of  something  else  ?  " 

Miss  Roxy  laid  aside  the  straw  bonnet  which  she  was 
ripping,  and  motioned  Mara  into  the  outer  room,  —  the  sink- 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  371 

room,  as  the  sisters  called  it.  It  was  the  scullery  of  their 
little  establishment,  —  the  place  where  all  dish-washing  and 
clothes-washing  was  generally  performed,  —  but  the  boards 
of  the  floor  were  white  as  snow,  and  the  place  had  the  odor 
of  neatness.  The  open  door  looked  out  pleasantly  into  the 
deep  forest,  where  the  waters  of  the  cove,  now  at  high  tide, 
could  be  seen  glittering  through  the  trees.  Soft  moving 
spots  of  sunlight  fell,  checkering  the  feathery  ferns  and  small 
piney  tribes  of  evergreen  which  ran  in  ruffling  wreaths  of 
green  through  the  dry,  brown  matting  of  fallen  pine  needles. 
Birds  were  singing  and  calling  to  each  other  merrily  from 
the  green  shadows  of  the  forest,  —  everything  had  a  sylvan 
fulness  and  freshness  of  life.  There  are  moods  of  mind 
when  the  sight  of  the  bloom  and  freshness  of  nature  affects 
us  painfully,  like  the  want  of  sympathy  in  a  dear  friend. 
[Mara  had  been  all  her  days  a  child  of  the  woods  ;  her  deli 
cate  life  had  grown  up  in  them  like  one  of  their  own  cool 
shaded  flowers ;  and  there  was  not  a  moss,  not  a  fern,  not 
an  up-springing  thing  that  waved  a  leaf  or  threw  forth  a 
flower-bell,  that  was  not  a  m  well-known  friend  to  her ;  she 
had  watched  for  years  its  haunts,  known  the  time  of  its  com 
ing  and  its  going,  studied  its  shy  and  veiled  habits,  and  inter 
woven  with  its  life  each  year  a  portion  of  her  own ;  and  now 
she  looked  out  into  the  old  mossy  woods,  with  their  waver 
ing  spots  of  sun  and  shadow,  with  a  yearning  pain,  as  if 
she  wanted  help  or  sympathy  to  come  from  their  silent 
recesses. 

She  sat  down  on  the  clean,  scoured  door-sill,  and  took  off 
her  straw  hat.  Her  golden-brown  hair  was  moist  with  the 
damps  of  fatigue,  which  made  it  curl  and  wave  in  darker 
little  rings  about  her  forehead  ;  her  eyes,  —  those  longing, 
wistful  eyes,  —  had  a  deeper  pathos  of  sadness  than  ever 


372  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

they  had  worn  before  ;  and  her  delicate  lips  trembled  with 
some  strong  suppressed  emotion. 

"  Aunt  Roxy,"  she  said  suddenly,  "  I  must  speak  to  some 
body.  I  can't  go  on  and  keep  up  without  telling  some  one, 
and  it  had  better  be  you,  because  you  have  skill  and  experi 
ence,  and  can  help  me  if  anybody  can.  I  've  been  going  on 
for  six  months  now,  taking  this  and  taking  that,  and  trying 
to  get  better,  but  it 's  of  no  use.  Aunt  Roxy,  I  feel  rny  life 
going,  —  going  just  as  steadily  and  as  quietly  every  day  as 
the  sand  goes  out  of  your  hour-glass.  I  want  to  live,  —  oh, 
I  never  wanted  to  live  so  much,  and  I  can't,  —  oh,  I  know  I 
can't.  Can  I  now,  —  do  you  think  I  can  ?  " 

Mara  looked  imploringly  at  Miss  Roxy.  The  hard-vis- 
aged  woman  sat  down  on  the  wash-bench,  and,  covering  her 
worn,  stony  visage  with  her  checked  apron,  sobbed  aloud. 

Mara  was  confounded.  This  implacably  withered,  sensi 
ble,  dry  woman,  beneficently  impassive  in  sickness  and  sor 
row,  weeping !  —  it  was  awful  as  if  one  of  the  Fates  had 
laid  down  her  fatal  distaff  to  weep. 

Mara  sprung  up  impulsively  and  threw  her  arms  round 
her  neck. 

"  Now  don't,  Aunt  Roxy,  don't.  I  did  n't  think  you  would 
feel  bad,  or  I  would  n't  have  told  you  ;  but  oh,  you  don't 
know  how  hard  it  is  to  keep^guch  a  secret  all  to  one's  self. 
I  have  to  make  believe  all  the  time  that  I  am  feeling  well 
and  getting  better.  I  really  say  what  is  n't  true  every  day, 
because,  poor  grandmamma,  how  could  I  bear  to  see  her 
distress  ?  and  grandpapa,  —  oh,  I  wish  people  did  ri't  love 
me  so  !  Why  cannot  they  let  me  go  ?  And  oh,  Aunt  Roxy, 
I  had  a  letter  only  yesterday,  and  he  is  so  sure  we  shall  be 
married  this  fall,  —  and  I  know  it  cannot  be."  Mara's  voice 
gave  way  in  sobs,  and  the  two  wept  together,  —  the  old  grim 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  373 

gray  woman  holding  the  soft  golden  head  against  her  breast 
with  a  convulsive  grasp.  "  Oh,  Aunt  Roxy,  do  you  love  me, 
too  ?  "  said  Mara.  "  I  did  n't  know  you  did." 

"  Love  ye,  child  ?  "  said  Miss  Roxy ;  "  yes,  I  love  ye  like 
my  life.     I  a'n't  one  that  makes  talk  about  things,  but  I  do  ; 
you  come  into  my  arms  fust  of  anybody's  in  this  world,  — 
and  except  poor  little  Hitty,  I  never  loved  nobody  as  I  have 
you/' 

"  Ah  !  that  was  your  sister,  whose  grave  I  have  seen," 
said  Mara,  speaking  in  a  soothing,  caressing  tone,  and  put 
ting  her  little  thin  hand  against  the  grim,  wasted  cheek, 
which  was  now  moist  with  tears. 

"  Jes'  so,  child,  she  died  when  she  was  a  year  younger 
than  you  be ;  she  was  not  lost,  for  God  took  her.  Poor 
Hitty  !  her  life  jest  dried  up  like  a  brook  in  August,  — jest 
so.  Well,  she  was  hopefully  pious,  and  it  was  better  for 
her." 

"  Did  she  go  like  me,  Aunt  Roxy  ?  "  said  Mara. 

"  Well,  yes,  dear ;  she  did  begin  jest  so,  and  I  gave  her 
everything  I  could  think  of;  and  we  had  doctors  for  her  far 
and  near  ;  but  't  was  n't  to  be,  —  that 's  all  we  could  say  ; 
she  was  called,  and  her  time  was  come." 

"  Well,  now,  Aunt  Roxy,"  said  Mara,  "  at  any  rate,  it 's  a 
relief  to  speak  out  to  some  one.  It 's  more  than  two  months 
that  I  have  felt  every  day  more  and  more  that  there  was  no 
hope,  —  life  has  hung  on  me  like  a  weight.  I  have  had  to 
make  myself  keep  up,  and  make  myself  do  everything,  and 
no  one  knows  how  it  has  tried  me.  I  am  so  tired  all  the 
time,  I  could  cry  ;  and  yet  when  I  go  to  bed  nights  I  can't 
sleep,  I  lie  in  such  a  hot,  restless  way ;  and  then  before 
morning  I  am  drenched  with  cold  sweat,  and  feel  so  weak 
and  wretched.  I  force  myself  to  eat,  and  I  force  myself  to 


374  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

talk  and  laugh,  and  it 's  all  pretence ;  and  it  wears  me  out, 
—  it  would  be  better  if  I  stopped  trying,  —  it  would  be 
better  to  give  up  and  act  as  weak  as  I  feel ;  but  how  can  I 
let  them  know  ?  " 

"  My  dear  child,"  said  Aunt  Roxy,  "  the  truth  is  the  kind 
est  thing  we  can  give  folks  in  the  end.  When  folks  know 
jest  where  they  are,  why  they  can  walk ;  you  '11  all  be  sup 
ported  ;  you  must  trust  in  the  Lord.  I  have  been  more  'n 
forty  years  with  sick  rooms  and  dyin'  beds,  and  I  never 
knew  it  fail  that  those  that  trusted  in  the  Lord  was  brought 
through." 

"  Oh,  Aunt  Roxy,  it  is  so  hard  for  me  to  give  up,  —  to 
give  up  hoping  to  live.  There  were  a  good  many  years 
when  I  thought  I  should  love  to  depart,  —  not  that  I  was 
really  unhappy,  but  I  longed  to  go  to  heaven,  though  I  knew 
it  was  selfish,  when  I  knew  how  lonesome  I  should  leave 
my  friends.  But  now,  oh,  life  has  looked  so  bright ;  I  have 
clung  to  it  so  ;  I  do  now.  I  lie  awake  nights  and  pray,  and 
try  to  give  it  up  and  be  resigned,  and  I  can't.  Is  it  wicked?" 

"  Well,  it 's  natur'  to  want  to  live,"  said  Miss  Roxy. 
"  Life  is  sweet,  and  in  a  gen'l  way  we  was  made  to  live. 
Don't  worry  ;  the  Lord  '11  bring  you  right  when  His  time 
comes.  Folks  is  n't  always  supported  jest  when  they  want 
to  be,  nor  as  they  want  to  be  ;  but  yet  they  're  supported 
fust  and  last.  Ef  I  was  to  tell  you  how  as  I  has  hope  in 
your  case,  I  should  n't  be  a-tellin'  you  the  truth.  I  has  n't 
much  of  any  ;  only  all  things  is  possible  with  God.  If  you 
could  kind  o'  give  it  all  up  and  rest  easy  in  his  hands,  and 
keep  a-doin'  what  you  can,  —  why,  while  there  's  life  there  's 
hope,  you  know  ;  and  if  you  are  to  be  made  well,  you  will 
be  all  the  sooner." 

"  Aunt  Roxy,  it 's  all  right ;  I  know  it 's  all  right.     God 


THE  PEARL  OF  OKR'S   ISLAND.  375 

knows  best ;  He  will  do  what  is  best ;  I  know  that ;  —  but 
my  heart  Meeds,  and  is  sore.  And  when  I  get  his  letters,  — 
I  got  one  yesterday,  —  it  brings  it  all  back  again.  Every 
thing  is  going  on  so  well ;  he  says  he  has  done  more  than  all 
he  ever  hoped  ;  his  letters  are  full  of  jokes,  —  full  of  spirit. 
Ah,  he  little  knows,  —  and  how  can  I  tell  him  ?  " 

"  Child,  you  need  n't  yet.  You  can  jest  kind  o'  prepare 
his  mind  a  little." 

"  Aunt  Roxy,  have  you  spoken  of  my  case  to  any  one,  — 
have  you  told  what  you  know  of  me  ?  " 

"  No,  child,  I  ha'  n't  said  nothin'  more  than  that  you 
was  a  little  weakly  now  and  then." 

"I  have  such  a  color  every  afternoon,"  said  Mara. 
"  Grandpapa  talks  about  my  roses,  and  Captain  Kittridge 
jokes  me  about  growing  so  handsome ;  nobody  seems  to 
realize  how  I  feel.  I  have  kept  up  with  all  the  strength 
I  had.  I  have  tried  to  shake  it  off,  and  to  feel  that  nothing 
was  the  matter,  —  really  there  is  nothing  much  only  this 
weakness.  This  morning  I  thought  it  would  do  me  good  to 
walk  down  here.  I  remember  times  when  I  could  ramble 
whole  days  in  the  woods,  but  I  was  so  tired  before  I  got 
halfway  here  that  I  had  to  stop  a  long  while  and  rest. 
Aunt  Roxy,  if  you  would  only  tell  grandpapa  and  grand 
mamma  just  how  things  are,  and  what  the  danger  is,  and 
let  them  stop  talking  to  me  about  wedding  things,  —  for 
really  and  truly  I  am  too  unwell  to  keep  up  any  longer." 

"  Well,  child,  I  will,"  said  Miss  Roxy.  "  Your  grand 
father  will  be  supported,  and  hold  you  up,  for  he 's  one 
of  the  sort  as  has  the  secret  of  the  Lord,  —  I  remember 
him  of  old.  Why,  the  day  your  father  and  mother  was 
buried  he  stood  up  and  sung  old  China,  and  his  face  was 
wonderful  to  see.  He  seemed  to  be  standin'  with  the  world 


376  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

under  his  feet  and  heaven  opening.  He  's  a  master  Chris 
tian,  your  grandfather  is ;  and  now  you  jest  go  and  lie  down 
in  the  little  bedroom,  and  rest  you .  a  bit,  and  by  and  by,  in 
the  cool  of  the  afternoon,  I  '11  walk  along  home  with  you." 

Miss  Roxy  opened  the  door  of  a  little  room,  whose  white 
fringy  window-curtains  were  blown  inward  by  breezes  from 
the  blue  sea,  and  laid  the  child  down  to  rest  on  a  clean  sweet- 
smelling  bed  with  as  deft  and  tender  care  as  if  she  were  not 
a  bony,  hard-visaged,  angular  female,  in  a  black  mohair  fri- 
sette. 

She  stopped  a  moment  wistfully  before  a  little  profile  head, 
of  a  kind  which  resembles  a  black  shadow  on  a  white  ground. 
"  That  was  Hitty  !  "  she  said. 

Mara  had  often  seen  in  the  graveyard  a  mound  inscribed 
to  this  young  person,  and  heard  traditionally  of  a  young  and 
pretty  sister  of  Miss  Roxy  who  had  died  very  many  years 
before.  But  the  grave  was  overgrown  with  blackberry-vines, 
and  gray  moss  had  grown  into  the  crevices  of  the  slab  which 
served  for  a  tombstone,  and  never  before  that  day  had  she 
heard  Miss  Roxy  speak  of  her.  Miss  Roxy  took  down  the 
little  black  object  and  handed  it  to  Mara.  "  You  can't  tell 
much  by  that,  but  she  was  a  most  beautiful  creatur'.  Well, 
it 's  all  best  as  it  is."  Mara  saw  nothing  but  a  little  black 
shadow  cast  on  white  paper,  yet  she  was  affected  by  the  per 
ception  how  bright,  how  beautiful,  was  the  image  in  the 
memory  of  that  seemingly  stern,  commonplace  woman,  and 
how  of  all  that  in  her  mind's  eye  she  saw  and  remembered, 
she  could  find  no  outward  witness  but  this  black  block.  "  So 
some  day  my  friends  will  speak  of  me  as  a  distant  shadow," 
she  said,  as  with  a  sigh  she  turned  her  head  on  the  pillow. 

Miss  Roxy  shut  the  door  gently  as  she  went  out,  and  be 
trayed  the  unwonted  rush  of  softer  feelings  which  had  come 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  377 

over  her  only  by  being  more  dictatorial  and  commanding  than 
usual  in  her  treatment  of  her  sister,  who  was  sitting  in  fidg 
ety  curiosity  to  know  what  could  have  been  the  subject  of 
the  private  conference. 

"  I  s'pose  Mara  wanted  to  get  some  advice  about  makin* 
up  her  weddin'  things,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  with  a  sort  of  hum 
ble  quiver,  as  Miss  Roxy  began  ripping  and  tearing  fiercely 
at  her  old  straw  bonnet,  as  if  she  really  purposed  its  utter 
and  immediate  demolition. 

"  No  she  did  n't,  neither,"  said  Miss  Roxy  fiercely.  "  I 
declare,  Ruey,  you  are  silly ;  your  head  is  always  full  of 
weddin's,  weddin's,  weddin's  —  nothin'  else  —  from  mornin' 
till  night,  and  night  till  mornin'.  I  tell  you  there  's  other 
things  have  got  to  be  thought  of  in  this  world  besides  wed 
din'  clothes,  and  it  would  be  well,  if  people  would  think  more 
o'  gettin'  their  weddin'  garments  ready  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  That 's  what  Mara  's  got  to  think  of;  for,  mark  my 
words,  Ruey,  there  is  no  marryin'  and  givin'  in  marriage  for 
her  in  this  world." 

"  Why,  bless  me,  Roxy,  now  you  don't  say  so !  "  said  Miss 
Ruey ;  "  why  I  knew  she  was  kind  o'  weakly  and  ailin', 
but "  — 

"  Kind  o'  weakly  and  ailin' !  "  said  Miss  Roxy,  taking  up 
Miss  Ruey's  words  in  a  tone  of  high  disgust,  "  I  should  rather 
think  she  was ;  and  more  'n  that,  too  :  she  's  marked  for 
death,  and  that  before  long,  too.  It  may  be  that  Moses 
Fennel  '11  never  see  her  again  —  he  never  half  knew  what 
she  was  worth  —  maybe  he  '11  know  when  he  's  lost  her, 
that 's  one  comfort !  " 

"  But,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  everybody  has  been  a-sayin' 
what  a  beautiful  color  she  was  a-gettin'  in  her  cheeks." 

"  Color  in  her  cheeks  !  "  snorted  Miss  Roxy  ;  "  so  does  a 


378  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

rock-maple  get  color  in  September  and  turn  all  scarlet,  and 
what  for  ?  why,  the  frost  has  been  at  it,  and  its  time  is  out. 
That  's  what  your  bright  colors  stand  for.  Ha'  n't  you 
noticed  that  little  gravestone  cough,  jest  the  faintest  in  the 
world,  and  it  don't  come  from  a  cold,  and  it  hangs  on.  I  tell 
you  you  can't  cheat  me,  she  's  goin'  jest  as  Mehitabel  went, 
jest  as  Sally  Ann  Smith  went,  jest  as  Louisa  Pearson  went. 
I  could  count  now  on  my  fingers  twenty  girls  that  have  gone 
that  way.  Nobody  saw  'em  goin'  till  they  was  gone." 

"  Well,  now,  I  don't  think  the  old  folks  have  the  least  idea 
on  't,"  said  Miss  Ruey.  "  Only  last  Saturday  Mis'  Fennel 
was  a-talkin'  to  me  about  the  sheets  and  table-cloths  she  's 
got  out  a-bleachin' ;  and  she  said  that  the  weddin'  dress  was 
to  be  made  over  to  Mis'  Mosely's  in  Portland,  'cause  Moses 
he  's  so  particular  about  havin'  things  genteel." 

"  Well,  Master  Moses  '11  jest  have  to  give  up  his  particular 
notions,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  and  come  down  in  the  dust, 
like  all  the  rest  on  us,  when  the  Lord  sends  an  east  wind 
and  withers  our  gourds.  Moses  Pennel  's  one  of  the  sort 
that  expects  to  drive  all  before  him  with  the  strong  arm,  and 
sech  has  to  learn  that  things  a'n't  to  go  as  they  please  in  the 
Lord's  world.  Sech  always  has  to'  come  to  spots  that  they 
«an't  get  over  nor  under  nor  round,  to  have  their  own  way, 
but  jest  has  to  give  right  up  square." 

"  Well,  Roxy,"  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  how  does  the  poor 
little  thing  take  it  ?  Has  she  got  reconciled  ?  " 

"  Reconciled !  Ruey,  how  you  do  ask  questions  ! "  said 
Miss  Roxy,  fiercely  pulling  a  bandanna  silk  handkerchief  out 
of  her  pocket,  with  which  she  wiped  her  eyes  in  a  defiant 
manner.  "  Reconciled !  It  's  easy  enough  to  talk,  Ruey, 
but  how  would  you  like  it,  when  everything  was  goin' 
smooth  and  playin'  into  your  hands,  and  all  the  world  smooth 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  379 

and  shiny,  to  be  took  short  up  ?  I  guess  you  would  n't  be 
reconciled.  That 's  what  I  guess." 

"  Dear  me,  Roxy,  who  said  I  should  ?  "  said  Miss  Ruey. 
"  I  wa'  n't  blamin'  the  poor  child,  not  a  grain." 

"  Well,  who  said  you  was,  Ruey  ?  "  answered  Miss  Roxy 
in  the  same  high  key. 

"  You  need  n't  take  my  head  off,"  said  Aunt  Ruey,  roused 
as  much  as  her  adipose,  comfortable  nature  could  be.  "  You 
Ve  been  a-talkin'  at  me  ever  since  you  came  in  from  the 
sink-room,  as  if  /  was  to  blame  ;  and  snappin'  at  me  as  if  I 
had  n't  a  right  to  ask  civil  questions ;  and  I  won't  stan'  it," 
said  Miss  Ruey.  "  And  while  I  'm  about  it,  I  '11  say  that 
you  always  have  snubbed  me  and  contradicted  and  ordered 
me  round.  I  won't  bear  it  no  longer." 

"  Come,  Ruey,  don't  make  a  fool  of  yourself  at  your  time 
of  life,"  said  Miss  Roxy.  "  Things  is  bad  enough  in  this 
world  without  two  lone  sisters  and  church-members  turnin' 
agin  each  other.  You  must  take  me  as  I  am,  Ruey ;  my 
bark  's  worse  than  my  bite,  as  you  know." 

Miss  Ruey  sank  back  pacified  into  her  usual  state  of 
pillowy  dependence  —  it  was  so  much  easier  to  be  good- 
natured  than  to  contend.  As  for  Miss  Roxy  —  if  you  have 
ever  carefully  examined  a  chestnut-burr  you  will  remember 
that,  hard  as  it  is  to  handle,  no  plush  of  downiest  texture 
can  exceed  the  satin  smoothness  of  the  fibres  which  line  its 
heart.  There  are  a  class  of  people  in  New  England  who 
betray  the  uprising  of  the  softer  feelings  of  our  nature  only 
by  an  increase  of  outward  asperity  —  a  sort  of  bashfulness 
and  shyness  leaves  them  no  power  of  expression  for  these 
unwonted  guests  of  the  heart  —  they  hurry  them  into  inner 
chambers  and  slam  the  doors  upon  them,  as  if  they  were 
vexed  at  their  appearance. 


380  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

Now  if  poor  Miss  Roxy  had  been  like  you,  my  dear 
young  lady  —  if  her  soul  had  been  encased  in  a  round,  rosy, 
and  comely  body,  and  looked  out  of  tender  blue  eyes  shaded 
by  golden  hair,  probably  the  grief  and  love  she  felt  would 
have  shown  themselves  only  in  bursts  of  feeling  most  grace 
ful  to  see,  and  engaging  the  sympathy  of  all ;  but  this  same 
soul,  imprisoned  in  a  dry,  angular  body,  stiff  and  old,  and 
looking  out  under  beetling  eyebrows,  over  withered  high 
cheek-bones,  could  only  utter  itself  by  a  passionate  tempest 
— unlovely  utterance  of  a  lovely  impulse  —  dear  only  to 
Him  who  sees  with  a  Father's  heart  the  real  beauty  of 
spirits.  It  is  our  firm  faith  that  bright  solemn  angels  in 
celestial  watchings  were  frequent  guests  in  the  homely  room 
of  the  two  sisters,  and  that  passing  by  all  accidents  of  age 
and  poverty,  withered  skins,  bony  features,  and  grotesque 
movements,  and  shabby  clothing,  they  saw  more  real  beauty 
there  than  in  many  a  scented  boudoir  where  seeming  angels 
smile  in  lace  and  satin. 

"  Ruey,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  in  a  more  composed  voice, 
while  her  hard,  bony  hands  still  trembled  with  excitement, 
"  this  'ere  's  been  on  my  mind  a  good  while.  I  ha'  n't  said 
nothin'  to  nobody,  but  I  've  seen  it  a-comin'.  I  always 
thought  that  child  wa'  n't  for  a  long  life.  Lives  is  run  in 
different  lengths,  and  nobody  can  say  what 's  the  matter  with 
some  folks,  only  that  their  thread 's  run  out ;  there  's  more  on 
one  spool  and  less  on  another.  I  thought,  when  we  laid 
Hitty  in  the  grave,  that  I  should  n't  never  set  my  heart  on 
nothin'  else  —  but  we  can't  jest  say  we  will  or  we  won't. 
Ef  we  are  to  be  sorely  afflicted  at  any  time,  the  Lord  lets 
us  set  our  hearts  before  we  know  it.  This  'ere  's  a  great 
affliction  to  me,  Ruey,  but  I  must  jest  shoulder  my  cross  and 
go  through  with  it.  I'm  goin'  down  to-night  to  tell  the 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  381 

old  folks,  and  to  make  arrangements  so  that  the  poor  little 
lamb  may  have  the  care  she  needs.  She 's  been  a-keepin' 
up  so  long,  'cause  she  dreaded  to  let  'em  know,  but  this  'ere 
has  got  to  be  looked  right  in  the  face,  and  I  hope  there  '11  be 
grace  given  to  do  it." 


382  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

MEANWHILE  Mara  had  been  lying  in  the  passive  calm  of 
fatigue  and  exhaustion,  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  window,  where, 
as  the  white  curtain  drew  inward,  she  could  catch  glimpses 
of  the  bay.  Gradually  her  eyelids  fell,  and  she  dropped 
into  that  kind  of  half-waking  doze,  when  the  outer  senses 
are  at  rest,  and  the  mind  is  all  the  more  calm  and  clear  for 
their  repose.  In  such  hours  a  spiritual  clairvoyance  often 
seems  to  lift  for  a  while  the  whole  stifling  cloud  that  lies  like 
a  confusing  mist  over  the  problem  of  life,  and  the  soul  has 
sudden  glimpses  of  things  unutterable  which  lie  beyond. 
Then  the  narrow  straits  that  look  so  full  of  rocks  and  quick 
sands,  widen  into  a  broad,  clear  passage,  and  one  after  an 
other,  rosy  with  a  celestial  dawn,  and  ringing  silver  bells  of 
gladness,  the  isles  of  the  blessed  lift  themselves  up  on  the 
horizon,  and  the  soul  is  flooded  with  an  atmosphere  of  light 
and  joy.  As  the  burden  of  Christian  fell  off  at  the  cross  and 
was  lost  in  the  sepulchre,  so  in  these  hours  of  celestial  vision 
the  whole  weight  of  life's  anguish  is  lifted,  and  passes  away 
like  a  dream ;  and  the  soul,  seeing  the  boundless  ocean  of 
Divine  love,  wherein  all  human  hopes  and  joys  and  sorrows 
lie  so  tenderly  upholden,  comes  and  casts  the  one  little  drop 
of  its  personal  will  and  personal  existence  with  gladness  into 
that  Fatherly  depth.  Henceforth,  with  it,  God  and  Saviour 
is  no  more  word  of  mine  and  thine,  for  in  that  hour  the  child 


THE  PEARL -OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  383 

of  earth  feels  himself  heir  of  all  things  —  "  All  things  are 

yours,  and  ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's." 

******* 

"  The  child  is  asleep,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  as  she  stole  on 
tiptoe  into  the  room  when  their  noon  meal  was  prepared. 
A  plate  and  knife  had  been  laid  for  her,  and  they  had 
placed  for  her  a  tumbler  of  quaint  old  engraved  glass,  re 
puted  to  have  been  brought  over  from  foreign  parts,  and 
which  had  been  given  to  Miss  Roxy  as  her  share  in  the 
effects  of  the  mysterious  Mr.  Swadkins.  Tea  also  was 
served  in  some  egg-like  India  china  cups,  which  saw  the 
light  only  on  the  most  high  and  festive  occasions. 

"  Had  n't  you  better  wake  her  ?  "  said  Miss  Ruey,  "  a  cup 
of  hot  tea  would  do  her  so  much  good." 

Miss  Ruey  could  conceive  of  few  sorrows  or  ailments 
which  would  not  be  materially  better  for  a  cup  of  hot  tea. 
If  not  the  very  elixir  of  life,  it  was  indeed  the  next  thing 
to  it. 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  after  laying  her  hand  for  a 
moment  with  great  gentleness  on  that  of  the  sleeping  girl, 
"  she  don't  wake  easy,  and  she  's  tired ;  and  she  seems  to  be 
enjoying  it  so.  The  Bible  says,  *  He  giveth  his  beloved 
sleep/  and  I  won't  interfere.  I  've  seen  more  good  come  of 
sleep  than  most  things  in  my  nursin'  experience,"  said  Miss 
Roxy,  and  she  shut  the  door  gently,  and  the  two  sisters  sat 
down  to  their  noontide  meal. 

"  How  long  the  child  does  sleep ! "  said  Miss  Ruey  as  the 
old  clock  struck  four. 

"  It  was  too  much  for  her,  this  walk  down  here,"  said 
Aunt  Roxy.  "  She  's  been  doin'  too  much  for  a  long  time. 
I  'm  a-goin'  to  put  an  end  to  that.  Well,  nobody  need  n't 
say  Mara  ha'  n't  got  resolution.  I  never  see  a  little  thing 


384  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

have  more.  She  always  did  have,  when  she  was  the  leastest 
little  thing.  She  was  always  quiet  and  white  and  still,  but 
she  did  whatever  she  sot  out  to." 

At  this  moment,  to  their  surprise,  the  door  opened,  and 
Mara  came  in,  and  both  sisters  were  struck  with  a  change 
that  had  passed  over  her.  It  was-  more,  than  the  result  of 
mere  physical  repose.  Not  only  had  every  sign  of  weari 
ness  and  bodily  languor  vanished,  but  there  was  about  her 
an  air  of  solemn  serenity  and  high  repose  that  made  her 
seem,  as  Miss  Ruey  afterwards  said,  "  like  an  angel  jest 
walked  out  of  the  big  Bible." 

"  Why,  dear  child,  how  you  have  slept,  and  how  bright 
and  rested  you  look,"  said  Miss  Ruey. 

"  I  am  rested,"  said  Mara ;  "  oh  how  much !  And  happy," 
she  added,  laying  her  little  hand  on  Miss  Roxy's  shoulder. 
"  I  thank  you,  dear  friend,  for  all  your  kindness  to  me.  I 
am  sorry  I  made  you  feel  so  sadly ;  but  now  you  must  n't 
feel  so  any  more,  for  all  is  well  —  yes,  all  is  well.  I  see 
now  that  it  is  so.  I  have  passed  beyond  sorrow  —  yes, 
forever." 

Soft-hearted  Miss  Ruey  here  broke  into  audible  sobbing, 
hiding  her  face  in  her  hands,  and  looking  like  a  tumbled 
heap  of  old  faded  calico  in  a  state  of  convulsion. 

"  Dear  Aunt  Ruey,  you  must  n't,"  said  Mara,  with  a  voice 
of  gentle  authority.  "  We  must  n't  any  of  us  feel  so  any 
more.  There  is  no  harm  done  —  no  real  evil  is  coming  — 
only  a  good  which  we  do  not  understand.  I  am  perfectly 
satisfied  —  perfectly  at  rest  now.  I  was  foolish  and  weak  to 
feel  as  I  did  this  morning,  but  I  shall  not  feel  so  any  more. 
I  shall  comfort  you  all.  Is  it  anything  so  dreadful  for  me 
to  go  to  heaven  ?  How  little  while  it  will  be  before  you  all 
come  to  me  !  Oh,  how  little,  little  while  !  " 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  385 

"  I  told  you,  Mara,  that  you  'd  be  supported  in  the  Lord's 
time,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  who  watched  her  with  an  air  of 
grave  and  solemn  attention.  "  First  and  last,  folks  allers  is 
supported ;  but  sometimes  there  is  a  long  wrestlin'.  The 
Lord  's  give  you  the  victory  early." 

"  Victory  ! "  said  the  girl,  speaking  as  in  a  deep  muse, 
and  with  a  mysterious  brightness  in  her  eyes ;  "  yes,  that  is 
the  word  —  it  is  a  victory  —  no  other  word  expresses  it. 
Come,  Aunt  Roxy,  we  will  go  home.  I  am  not  afraid  now 
to  tell  grandpapa  and  grandmamma.  God  will  care  for 
them  ;  He  will  wipe  away  all  tears." 

"  Well,  though,  you  mus'  n't  think  of  goin'  till  you  've  had 
a  cup  of  tea,"  said  Aunt  Ruey,  wiping  her  eyes.  "  I  've 
kep'  the  teapot  hot  by  the  fire,  and  you  must  eat  a  little 
something  for  it's  long  past  dinner-time." 

"  Is  it  ?  "  said  Mara.  "  I  had  no  idea  I  had  slept  so  long 
—  how  thoughtful  and  kind  you  are  !  " 

"I  do  wish  I  could  only  do  more  for  you,"  said  Miss 
Ruey.  "  I  don't  seem  to  get  reconciled  no  ways  ;  it  seems 
dreffle  hard  —  dreffle ;  but  I  'm  glad  you  can  feel  so ; "  and 
the  good  old  soul  proceeded  to  press  upon  the  child  not 
only  the  tea,  which  she  drank  with  feverish  relish,  but 
every  hoarded  dainty  which  their  limited  house-keeping 
commanded. 

It  was  toward  sunset  before  Miss  Roxy  and  Mara  started 
on  their  walk  homeward.  Their  way  lay  over  the  high 
stony  ridge  which  forms  the  central  part  of  the  island.  On 
one  side,  through  the  pines,  they  looked  out  into  the  bound 
less  blue  of  the  ocean,  and  on  the  other  caught  glimpses  of 
Harpswell  Bay  as  it  lay  glorified  in  the  evening  light.  The 
fresh  cool  breeze  blowing  landward  brought  with  it  an  invig 
orating  influence,  which  Mara  felt  through  all  her  feverish 
17 


386  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

frame.  She  walked  with  an  energy  to  which  she  had  long 
been  a  stranger.  She  said  little,  but  there  was  a  sweetness, 
a  repose  in  her  manner  contrasting  singularly  with  the  pas 
sionate  melancholy  which  she  had  that  morning  expressed. 

Miss  Roxy  did  not  interrupt  her  meditations.  The  na 
ture  of  her  profession  had  rendered  her  familiar  with  all  the 
changing  mental  and  physical  phenomena  that  attend  the  de 
velopment  of  disease  and  the  gradual  loosening  of  the  silver 
cords  of  a  present  life.  Certain  well-understood  phrases 
everywhere  current  among  the  mass  of  the  people  in  New 
England,  strikingly  tell  of  the  deep  foundations  of  religious 
earnestness  on  which  its  daily  life  is  built.  "  A  triumphant 
death  "  was  a  matter  often  casually  spoken  of  among  the 
records  of  the  neighborhood ;  and  Miss  Roxy  felt  that  there 
was  a  vague  and  solemn  charm  about  its  approach.  Yet  the 
soul  of  the  gray,  dry  woman  was  hot  within  her,  for  the  con 
versation  of  the  morning  had  probed  depths  in  her  own 
nature  of  whose  existence  she  had  never  before  been  so 
conscious.  The  roughest  and  most  matter-of-fact  minds 
have  a  craving  for  the  ideal  somewhere ;  and  often  this 
craving,  forbidden  by  uncomeliness  and  ungenial  surround 
ings  from  having  any  personal  history  of  its  own,  attaches 
itself  to  the  fortune  of  some  other  one  in  a  kind  of  strange 
disinterestedness.  Some  one  young  and  beautiful  is  to  live 
the  life  denied  to  them  —  to  be  the  poem  and  the  romance ; 
it  is  the  young  mistress  of  the  poor  black  slave  —  the  pretty 
sister  of  the  homely  old  spinster  —  or  the  clever  son  of  the 
consciously  ill-educated  father.  Something  of  this  uncon 
scious  personal  investment  had  there  been  on  the  part  of 
Miss  Roxy  in  the  nursling  whose  singular  loveliness  she 
had  watched  for  so  many  years,  and  on  whose  fair  virgin 
orb  she  had  marked  the  growing  shadow  of  a  fatal  eclipse ; 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  387 

and  as  she  saw  her  glowing  and  serene,  with  that  peculiar 
brightness  that  she  felt  came  from  no  earthly  presence  or  in 
fluence,  she  could  scarcely  keep  the  tears  from  her  honest 
gray  eyes. 

When  they  arrived  at  the  door  of  the  house,  Zephaniah 
Fennel  was  sitting  in  it,  looking  toward  the  sunset. 

"  Why,  reely,"  he  said,  "  Miss  Roxy,  we  thought  you 
must  a-run  away  with  Mara ;  she  's  been  gone  a'most  all 
day." 

"  I  expect  she  's  had  enough  to  talk  with  Aunt  Roxy 
about,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel.  "  Girls  goin'  to  get  married  have 
a  deal  to  talk  about,  what  with  patterns  and  contrivin'  and 
makin'  up.  But  come  in,  Miss  Roxy  ;  we  're  glad  to  see 
you." 

Mara  turned  to  Miss  Roxy,  and  gave  her  a  look  of  pe 
culiar  meaning.  "Aunt  Roxy,"  she  said,  "you  must  tell 
them  what  we  have  been  talking  about  to-day  ; "  and  then 
she  went  up  to  her  room  and  shut  the  door. 

Miss  Roxy  accomplished  her  task  with  a  matter-of-fact 
distinctness  to  which  her  business-like  habits  of  dealing  with 
sickness  and  death  had  accustomed  her,  yet  with  a  sympa 
thetic  tremor  in  her  voice  which  softened  the  hard  directness 
of  her  words.  "  You  can  take  her  over  to  Portland,  if  you 
say  so,  and  get  Dr.  Wilson's  opinion,"  she  said,  in  conclusion. 
"  It 's  best  to  have  all  done  that  can  be,  though  in  my  mind 
the  case  is  decided." 

The  silence  that  fell  between  Ihe  three  was  broken  at  last 
by  the  sound  of  a  light  footstep  descending  the  stairs,  and 
Mara  entered  among  them. 

She  came  -forward  and  threw  her  arms  round  Mrs.  Fen 
nel's  neck,  and  kissed  her;  and  then  turning,  she  nestled 
down  in  the  arms  of  her  old  grandfather,  as  she  had  often 


388  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

done  in  the  old  days  of  childhood,  and  laid  her  hand  upon 
his  shoulder.  There  was  no  sound  for  a  few  moments  but 
one  of  suppressed  weeping  ;  but  she  did  not  weep  —  she  lay 
with  bright  calm  eyes,  as  if  looking  upon  some  celestial 
vision. 

"  It  is  not  so  very  sad,"  she  said  at  last,  in  a  gentle  voice, 
"  that  I  should  go  there  ;  you  are  going,  too,  and  grandmam 
ma  ;  we  are  all  going ;  and  we  shall  be  forever  with  the 
Lord.  Think  of  it !  think  of  it ! " 

Many  were  the  words  spoken  in  that  strange  communing ; 
and  before  Miss  Roxy  went  away,  a  calmness  of  solemn  rest 
had  settled  down  on  all.  The  old  family  Bible  was  brought 
forth,  and  Zephaniah  Pennel  read  from  it  those  strange 
words  of  strong  consolation,  which  take  the  sting  from  death 
and  the  victory  from  the  grave  :  — 

"  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  '  Behold  the 
tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them, 
and  they  shall  be  his  people ;  and  God  himself  shall  be  with 
them  and  be  their  God.  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears 
from  their  eyes ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither 
sorrow  nor  crying,  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away.' " 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  389 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

As  Miss  Roxy  was  leaving  the  dwelling  of  the  Fennels, 
she  met  Sally  Kittridge  coming  toward  the  house,  laughing 
and  singing,  as  was  her  wont.  She  raised  her  long  lean 
forefinger  with  a  gesture  of  warning. 

"  What 's  the  matter  now,  Aunt  Roxy  ?  You  look  as 
solemn  as  a  hearse." 

"  None  o'  your  jokin'  now,  Miss  Sally ;  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  serious  things  in  this  'ere  world  of  our'n,  for  all  you 
girls  never  seems  to  know  it." 

"  What  is  the  matter,  Aunt  Roxy  ?  —  has  anything  hap 
pened  ?  —  is  anything  the  matter  with  Mara  ?  " 

"  Matter  enough.  I've  known  it  a  long  time,"  said  Miss 
Roxy.  "  She  's  been  goin'  down  for  three  months  now ;  and 
she 's  got  that  on  her  that  will  carry  her  off  before  the 
year  's  out." 

"  Pshaw,  Aunt  Roxy  !  how  lugubriously  you  old  nurses 
always  talk !  I  hope  now  you  hav'  n't  been  filling  Mara's 
head  with  any  such  notions  —  people  can  be  frightened  into 
anything." 

"  Sally  Kittridge,  don't  be  a-talkin'  of  what  you  don't 
know  nothin'  about !  It  stands  to  reason  that  a  body  that 
was  bearin'  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day  long  before  you 
was  born  or  thought  on  in  this  world,  should  know  a  thing 
or  two  more  'n  you.  Why,  I  've  laid  you  on  your  stomach 
and  trotted  you  to  trot  up  the  wind  many  a  day,  and  I  was 


390  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

pretty  experienced  then,  and  it  a'n't  likely  that  I  'm  a-goin' 
to  take  sa'ce  from  you.  Mara  Fennel  is  a  gal  as  has  every 
bit  and  grain  as  much  resolution  and  ambition  as  you  have, 
for  all  you  flap  your  wings  and  crow  so  much  louder,  and 
she 's  one  of  the  close-mouthed  sort,  that  don't  make  no 
talk,  and  she  's  been  a-bearin'  up  and  bearin'  up,  and  comin' 
to  me  on  the  sly  for  strengthenin'  things.  She 's  took 
camomile  and  orange-peel,  and  snake-root  and  boneset,  and 
dash-root  and  dandelion  —  and  there  ha'  n't  nothin'  done  her 
no  good.  She  told  me  to-day  she  could  n't  keep  up  no 
longer,  and  I  've  been  a-tellin'  Mis'  Pennel  and  her  gran- 
'ther.  I  tell  you  it  has  been  a  solemn  time  ;  and  if  you  're 
goin'  in,  don't  go  in  with  none  o'  your  light  triflin'  ways, 
'cause  *  as  vinegar  upon  nitre  is  he  that  singeth  songs  on  a 
heavy  heart,'  the  Scriptur'  says." 

"  Oh,  Miss  Roxy,  do  tell  me  truly  ? "  said  Sally,  much 
moved.  "  What  do  you  think  is  the  matter  with  Mara  ? 
I  've  noticed  myself  that  she  got  tired  easy,  and  that  she 
was  short-breathed  —  but  she  seemed  so  cheerful.  Can 
anything  really  be  the  matter  ?  " 

"  It 's  consumption,  Sally  Kittridge,"  said  Miss  Roxy, 
"  neither  more  nor  less ;  that  ar  is  the  long  and  the  short. 
They  're  going  to  take  her  over  to  Portland  to  see  Dr. 
Wilson  —  it  won't  do  no  harm,  and  it  won't  do  no  good." 

"  You  seem  to  be  determined  she  shall  die,"  said  Sally  in 
a  tone  of  pique. 

"  Determined,  am  I  ?  Is  it  I  that  determines  that  the 
maple  leaves  shall  fall  next  October  ?  Yet  I  know  they  will 
—  folks  can't  help  knowin'  what  they  know,  and  shuttin' 
one's  eyes  won't  alter  one's  road.  I  s'pose  you  think  'cause 
you  're  young  and  middlin'  good-lookin'  that  you  have  feel- 
in's  and  I  has  n't  —  well,  you  're  mistaken,  that 's  all.  I 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  391 

don't  believe  there  's  one  person  in  the  world  that  would  go 
farther  or  do  more  to  save  Mara  Fennel  than  I  would,  — 
and  yet  I  've  been  in  the  world  long  enough  to  see  that 
livin'  a'n't  no  great  shakes  neither.  Ef  one  is  hopefully 
prepared  in  the  days  of  their  youth,  why  they  escape  a 
good  deal,  ef  they  get  took  cross-lots  into  heaven." 

Sally  turned  away  thoughtfully  into  the  house ;  there 
was  no  one  in  the  kitchen  —  and  the  tick  of  the  old  clock 
sounded  lonely  and  sepulchral.  She  went  up-stairs  to  Mara's 
room ;  the  door  was  ajar.  Mara  was  sitting  at  the  open  win 
dow  that  looked  forth  toward  the  ocean,  busily  engaged  in 
writing.  The  glow  of  evening  shone  on  the  golden  waves 
of  her  hair,  and  tinged  the  pearly  outline  of  her  cheek. 
.Sally  noticed  the  translucent  clearness  of  her  complexion, 
and  the  deep  burning  color  and  the  transparency  of  the 
little  hands,  which  seemed  as  if  they  might  transmit  the 
light  like  Sevres  porcelain.  She  was  writing  with  an  ex 
pression  of  tender  calm,  and  sometimes  stopping  to  consult 
an  open  letter  that  Sally  knew  came  from  Moses. 

So  fair  and  sweet  and  serene  she  looked  that  a  painter 
might  have  chosen  her  for  an  embodiment  of  twilight,  and 
one  might  not  be  surprised  to  see  a  clear  star  shining  out 
over  her  forehead.  Yet  in  the  tender  serenity  of  the  face 
there  dwelt  a  pathos  of  expression  that  spoke  of  struggles 
and  sufferings  past,  like  the  traces  of  tears  on  the  face  of  a 
restful  infant  that  has  grieved  itself  to  sleep. 

Sally  came  softly  in  on  tiptoe,  threw  her  arms  around  her, 
and  kissed  her,  with  a  half  laugh,  then  bursting  into  tears, 
sobbed  upon  her  shoulder. 

"  Dear  Sally,  what  is  the  matter  ?  "  said  Mara,  looking  up. 

"  Oh,  Mara,  I  just  met  Miss  Roxy,  and  she  told  me  "  — 

Sally  only  sobbed  passionately. 


392  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

"It  is  very  sad  to  make  all  one's  friends  so  unhappy," 
said  Mara,  in  a  soothing  voice,  stroking  Sally's  hair.  "  You 
don't  know  how  much  I  have  suffered  dreading  it.  Sally,  it 
is  a  long  time  since  I  began  to  expect  and  dread  and  fear. 
My  time  of  anguish  was  then  —  then  when  I  first  felt  that 
it  could  be  possible  that  I  should  not  live  after  all.  There 
was  a  long  time  I  dared  not  even  think  of  it ;  I  could  not 
even  tell  such  a  fear  to  myself;  and  I  did  far  more  than  I 
felt  able  to  do  to  convince  myself  that  I  was  not  weak  and 
failing.  I  have  been  often  to  Miss  Roxy,  and  once,  when 
nobody  knew  it,  I  went  to  a  doctor  in  Brunswick,  but 
then  I  was  afraid  to  tell  him  half,  lest  he  should  say 
something  about  me,  and  it  should  get  out ;  and  so  I 
went  on  getting  worse  and  worse,  and  feeling  every  day 
as  if  I  could  not  keep  up,  and  yet  afraid  to  lie  down  for  fear 
grandmamma  would  suspect  me.  But  this  morning  it  was 
pleasant  and  bright,  and  something  came  over  me  that  said 
I  must  tell  somebody,  and  so,  as  it  was  cool  and  pleasant,  I 
walked  up  to  Aunt  Roxy's  and  told  her.  I  thought,  you 
know,  that  she  knew  the  most,  and  would  feel  it  the  least ; 
but  oh,  Sally,  she  has  such  a  feeling  heart,  and  loves  me  so  ; 
it  is  strange  she  should." 

"  Is  it  ?  "  said  Sally,  tightening  her  clasp  around  Mara's 
neck ;  and  then  with  a  hysterical  shadow  of  gayety  she  said, 
"  I  suppose  you  think  that  you  are  such  a  hobgoblin  that 
nobody  could  be  expected  to  do  that.  After  all,  though,  I 
should  have  as  soon  expected  roses  to  bloom  in  a  juniper 
clump  as  love  from  Aunt  Roxy." 

"  Well,  she  does  love  me,"  said  Mara.  "  No  mother  could 
be  kinder.  Poor  thing,  she  really  sobbed  and  cried  when  I 
told  her.  I  was  very  tired,  and  she  told  me  she  would  take 
care  of  me,  and  tell  grandpapa  and  grandmamma,  —  that 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S  ISLAND.  393 

had  been  lying  on  my  heart  as  such  a  dreadful  thing  to  do, 
—  and  she  laid  me  down  to  rest  on  her  bed,  and  spoke  so  lov 
ingly  to  me  !  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  her.  And  while 
I  lay  there,  I  fell  into  a  strange,  sweet  sort  of  rest.  I  can't 
describe  it ;  but  since  then  everything  has  been  changed.  I 
wish  I  could  tell  any  one  how  I  saw  things  then." 

"  Do  try  to  tell  me,  Mara,"  said  Sally,  "  for  I  need  com 
fort  too,  if  there  is  any  to  be  had." 

"  Well,  then,  I  lay  on  the  bed,  and  the  wind  drew  in  from 
the  sea  and  just  lifted  the  window-curtain,  and  I  could  see 
the  sea  shining  and  hear  the  waves  making  a  pleasant  little 
dash,  and  then  my  head  seemed  to  swim.  I  thought  I  was 
walking  out  by  the  pleasant  shore,  and  everything  seemed 
so  strangely  beautiful,  and  grandpapa  and  grandmamma 
were  there,  and  Moses  had  come  home,  and  you  were 
there;  and  we  were  all  so  happy.  And  then  I  felt  a  sort 
of  strange  sense  that  something  was  coming  —  some  great 
trial  or  affliction  —  and  I  groaned  and  clung  to  Moses,  and 
asked  him  to  put  his  arm  around  me  and  hold  me. 

"  Then  it  seemed  to  be  not  by  our  sea-shore  that  this  was 
happening,  but  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  just  as  it  tells  about  it 
in  the  Bible,  and  there  were  fishermen  mending  their  nets, 
and  men  sitting  counting  their  money,  and  I  saw  Jesus  come 
walking  along,  and  heard  him  say  to  this  one  and  that  one, 
*  Leave  all  and  follow  me,'  and  it  seemed  that  the  moment 
he  spoke  they  did  it,  and  then  he  came  to  me,  and  I  felt  his 
eyes  in  my  very  soul,  and  he  said,  *  Wilt  thou  leave  all  and 
follow  me  ?  '  I  cannot  tell  now  what  a  pain  I  felt  —  what 
an  anguish.  I  wanted  to  leave  all,  but  my  heart  felt  as  if  it 
were  tied  and  woven  with  a  thousand  threads,  and  while  I 
waited  he  seemed  to  fade  away,  and  I  found  myself  then 
alone  and  unhappy,  wishing  that  I  could,  and  mourning  that 
17* 


394  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND. 

I  had  not ;  and  then  something  shone  out  warm  like  the 
sun,  and  I  looked  up,  and  he  stood  there  looking  pitifully, 
and  he  said  again  just  as  he  did  before,  '  Wilt  thou  leave  all 
and  follow  me  ? '  Every  word  was  so  gentle  and  full  of 
pity,  and  I  looked  into  his  eyes  and  could  not  look  away  ; 
they  drew  me,  they  warmed  me,  and  I  felt  a  strange,  won 
derful  sense  of  his  greatness  and  sweetness.  It  seemed  as 
if  I  felt  within  me  cord  after  cord  breaking,  I  felt  so  free, 
so  happy  ;  and  I  said,  i  I  will,  I  will,  with  all  my  heart ; ' 
and  I  woke  then,  so  happy,  so  sure  of  God's  love. 

"  I  saw  so  clearly  how  his  love  is  in  everything,  and  these 
words  came  into  my  mind  as  if  an  angel  had  spoken  them, 
*  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes.'  Since  then 
I  cannot  be  unhappy.  I  was  so  myself  only  this  morning,  and 
now  I  wonder  that  any  one  can  have  a  grief  when  God  is 
so  loving  and  good,  and  cares  so  sweetly  for  us  all.  Why, 
Sally,  if  I  could  see  Christ  and  hear  Him  speak,  I  could  not 
be  more  certain  that  he  will  make  this  sorrow  such  a  bless 
ing  to  us  all  that  we  shall  never  be  able  to  thank  him  enough 
for  it." 

"  Oh  Mara,"  said  Sally,  sighing  deeply,  while  her  cheek 
was  wet  with  tears,  "  it  is  beautiful  to  hear  you  talk ;  but 
there  is  one  that  I  am  sure  will  not  and  cannot  feel  so." 

"  God  will  care  for  him,"  said  Mara ;  "  oh,  I  am  sure  of 
it ;  He  is  love  itself,  and  He  values  his  love  in  us,  and  He 
never,  never  would  have  brought  such  a  trial,  if  it  had  not 
been  the  true  and  only  way  tq  our  best  good.  We  shall  not 
shed  one  needless  tear.  Yes,  if  God  loved  us  so  that  He 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  he  will  surely  give  us  all  the  good 
here  that  we  possibly  can  have  without  risking  our  eternal 
happiness." 

"  You  are  writing  to  Moses,  now  ?  "  said  Sally. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  395 

"  Yes,  I  am  answering  his  letter ;  it  is  so  full  of  spirit 
and  life  and  hope  —  but  all  hope  in  this  world  —  all,  all 
earthly  —  as  much  as  if  there  was  no  God  and  no  world  to 
come.  Sally,  perhaps  our  Father  saw  that  I  could  not  have 
strength  to  live  with  him  and  keep  my  faith.  I  should  be 
drawn  by  him  earthward  instead  of  drawing  him  heaven 
ward;  and  so  this  is  in  mercy  to  us  both." 

"  And  are  you  telling  him  the  whole  truth,  Mara  ?  " 

"  Not  all,  no,"  said  Mara  ;  "  he  could  not  bear  it  at  once. 
I  only  tell  him  that  my  health  is  failing,  and  that  my  friends 
are  seriously  alarmed,  and  then  I  speak  as  if  it  were  doubt 
ful,  in  my  mind,  what  the  result  might  be." 

"  I  don't  think  you  can  make  him  feel  as  you  do.  Moses 
Fennel  has  a  tremendous  will,  and  he  never  yielded  to  any 
one.  You  bend,  Mara,  like  the  little  blue  harebells,  and  so 
the  storm  goes  over  you  ;  but  he  will  stand  up  against  it, 
and  it  will  wrench  and  shatter  him.  I  am  afraid,  instead  of 
making  him  better,  it  will  only  make  him  bitter  and  rebel 
lious." 

"  He  has  a  Father  in  heaven  who  knows  how  to  care  for 
him,"  said  Mara.  "  I  am  persuaded  —  I  feel  certain  that 
he  will  be  blessed  in  the  end  ;  not  perhaps  in  the  time  and 
way  I  should  have  chosen,  but  in  the  end.  I  have  always 
felt  that  he  was  mine  ever  since  he  came  a  little  shipwrecked 
boy  to  me  —  a  little  girl.  And  now  I  have  given  him  up  to 
his  Saviour  and  my  Saviour  —  to  his  God  and  my  God  — 
and  I  am  perfectly  at  peace.  All  will  be  well." 

Mara  spoke  with  a  look  of  such  solemn,  bright  assurance 
as  made  her,  in  the  dusky,  golden  twilight,  seem  like  some 
serene  angel  sent  down  to  comfort,  rather  than  a  hapless 
mortal  just  wrenched  from  life  and  hope. 

Sally  rose  up  and  kissed  her  silently.     "  Mara,"  she  said, 


396  THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  I  shall  come  to-morrow  to  see  what  I  can  do  for  you.     I 
will  not  interrupt  you  now.     Good-by,  dear." 

There  are  no  doubt  many,  who  have  followed  this  history 
so  long  as  it  danced  like  a  gay  little  boat  over  sunny  waters, 
and  who  would  have  followed  it  gayly  to  the  end,  had  it 
closed  with  ringing  of  marriage-bells,  who  turn  from  it  in 
dignantly,  when  they  see  that  its  course  runs  through  the  dark 
valley.  This,  they  say,  is  an  imposition  —  a  trick  upon  our 
feelings.  We  want  to  read  only  stories  which  end  in  joy 
and  prosperity. 

But  have  we  then  settled  it  in  our  own  rnind  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  fortunate  issue  in  a  history  which  does  not 
terminate  in  the  way  of  earthly  success  and  good  fortune  ? 
Are  we  Christians  or  heathen  ?  It  is  now  eighteen  cen 
turies  since,  as  we  hold,  the  "  highly  favored  among  women  " 
was  pronounced  to  be  one  whose  earthly  hopes  were  all  cut 
off  in  the  blossom,  —  whose  noblest  and  dearest  in  the  morn 
ing  of  his  days  went  down  into  the  shadows  of  death. 

Was  Mary  the  highly-favored  among  women,  and  was 
Jesus  indeed  the  blessed,  —  or  was  the  angel  mistaken  ?  If 
they  were  these,  if  we  are  Christians,  it  ought  to  be  a  settled 
and  established  habit  of  our  souls  to  regard  something  else 
as  prosperity  than  worldly  success  and  happy  marriages. 
That  life  is  a  success  which,  like  the  life  of  Jesus,  in  its  be 
ginning,  middle,  and  close,  has  borne  a  perfect  witness  to  the 
truth  and  the  highest  form  of  truth.  It  is  true  that  God 
has  given  to  us,  and  inwoven  in  our  nature  a  desire  for  a 
perfection  and  completeness  made  manifest  to  our  senses  in 
this  mortal  life.  To  see  the  daughter  bloom  into  youth  and 
womanhood,  the  son  into  manhood,  to  see  them  marry  and 
become  themselves  parents,  and  gradually  ripen  and  de- 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND.  397 

velop  in  the  maturities  of  middle  life,  gradually  wear  into 
a  sunny  autumn,  and  so  be  gathered  in  fulness  of  time  to 
their  fathers,  —  such,  one  says,  is  the  programme  which 
God  has  made  us  to  desire ;  such  the  ideal  of  happiness 
which  he  has  interwoven  with  our  nerves,  and  for  which  our 
heart  and  our  flesh  crieth  out ;  to  which  every  stroke  of  a 
knell  is  a  violence,  and  every  thought  of  an  early  death  is 
an  abhorrence. 

But  the  life  of  Christ  and  his  mother  sets  the  foot  on  this 
lower  ideal  of  happiness,  and  teaches  us  that  there  is  some 
thing  higher.  His  ministry  began  with  declaring,  "  Blessed 
are  they  that  mourn."  It  has  been  well  said  that  prosperity 
was  the  blessing  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  adversity  of  the 
New.  Christ  came  to  show  us  a  nobler  style  of  living  and 
bearing ;  and  so  far  as  he  had  a  personal  and  earthly  life, 
he  buried  it  as  a  corner-stone  on  which  to  erect  a  new  im 
mortal  style  of  architecture. 

Of  his  own,  he  had  nothing,  neither  houses,  nor  lands,  nor 
family  ties,  nor  human  hopes,  nor  earthly  sphere  of  success  ; 
and  as  a  human  life,  it  was  all  a  sacrifice  and  a  defeat.  He 
was  rejected  by  his  countrymen,  whom  the  passionate  an 
guish  of  his  love  and  the  unwearied  devotion  of  his  life 
could  not  save  from  an  awful  doom.  He  was  betrayed  by 
weak  friends,  prevailed  against  by  slanderers,  overwhelmed 
with  an  ignominious  death  in  the  morning  of  youth,  and  his 
mother  stood  by  his  cross,  and  she  was  the  only  woman 
whom  God  ever  called  highly  favored  in  this  world. 

This,  then,  is  the  great  and  perfect  ideal  of  what  God 
honors.  Christ  speaks  of  himself  as  bread  to  be  eaten,  — 
bread,  simple,  humble,  unpretending,  vitally  necessary  to 
human  life,  made  by  the  bruising  and  grinding  of  the 
grain,/  unostentatiously  having  no  life  or  worth  of  its  own 


398  THE  PEARL  OF  OER'S  ISLAND. 

except  as  it  is  absorbed  into  the  life  of  others  and  lives  in 
them.  (We  wished  in  this  history  to  speak  of  a  class  of 
lives  formed  on  the  model  of  Christ,  and  like  his,  obscure 
and  unpretending,  like  his,  seeming  to  end  in  darkness  and 
defeat,  but  which  yet  have  this  preciousness  and  value  that 
the  dear  saints  who  live  them  come  nearest  in  their  mission 
to  the  mission  of  Jesus.  [.They  are  made,  not  for  a  career 
and  history  of  their  own,  but  to  be  bread  of  life  to  others. 
In  every  household  or  house  have  been  some  of  these,  and 
if  we  look  on  their  lives  and  deaths  with  the  unbaptized 
eyes  of  nature,  we  shall  see  only  most  mournful  and  unac 
countable  failure,  —  when,  if  we  could  look  with  the  eye  of 
faith,  we  should  see  that  their  living  arid  dying  has  been 
bread  of  life  to  those  they  left  behind.  Fairest  of  these,  and 
least  developed,  are  the  holy  innocents  who  come  into  our 
households  to  smile  with  the  smile  of  angels,  who  sleep  in 
our  bosoms,  and  win  us  with  the  softness  of  tender  little 
hands,  and  pass  away  like  the  lamb  that  was  slain  before 
they  have  ever  learned  the  speech  of  mortals.  Not  vain 
are  even  these  silent  lives  of  Christ's  lambs,  whom  many  an 
earth-bound  heart  has  been  roused  to  follow  when  the  Shep 
herd  bore  them  to  the  higher  pastures.  And  so  the  daugh 
ter  who  died  so  early,  whose  wedding-bells  were  never  rung 
except  in  heaven,  —  the  son  who  had  no  career  of  ambition 
or  manly  duty  except  among  the  angels,  —  the  patient  suf 
ferers,  whose  only  lot  on  earth  seemed  to  be  to  endure, 
whose  life  bled  away  drop  by  drop  in  the  shadows  of  the 
sick-room  —  all  these  are  among  those  whose  life  was  like 
Christ's  in  that  they  were  made,  not  for  themselves,  but  to 
become  bread  to  us. 

It  is  expedient  for  us  that  they  go  away.     Like  their 
Lord,  they  come  to  suffer,  and  to  die ;  they  take  part  in  his 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  399 

sacrifice ;  their  life  is  incomplete  without  their  death,  and 
not  till  they  are  gone  away  does  the  Comforter  fully  come 
to  us. 

It  is  a  beautiful  legend  which  one  sees  often  represented 
in  the  churches  of  Europe,  that  when  the  grave  of  the 
mother  of  Jesus  was  opened,  it  was  found  full  of  blossoming 
lilies,  —  fit  emblem  of  the  thousand  flowers  of  holy  thought 
and  purpose  which  spring  up  in  our  hearts  from  the  memory 
of  our  sainted  dead. 

Cannot  many,  who  read  these  lines,  bethink  them  of  such 
rooms  that  have  been  the  most  cheerful  places  in  the  family, 
—  when  the  heart  of  the  smitten  one  seemed  the  band  that 
bound  all  the  rest  together,  —  and  have  there  not  been  dy 
ing  hours  which  shed  such  a  joy  and  radiance  on  all  around, 
that  it  was  long  before  the  mourners  remembered  to  mourn  ? 
Is  it  not  a  misuse  of  words  to  call  such  a  heavenly  transla 
tion  death  ?  and  to  call  most  things  that  are  lived  out  on  this 
earth  life  ? 


400  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

IT  is  now  about  a  month  after  the  conversation  which  we 
have  recorded,  and  during  that  time  the  process  which  was 
to  loose  from  this  present  life  had  been  going  on  in  Mara 
with  a  soft,  insensible,  but  steady  power.  When  she  ceased 
to  make  efforts  beyond  her  strength,  and  allowed  herself 
that  languor  and  repose  which  nature  claimed,  all  around  her 
soon  became  aware  how  her  strength  was  failing ;  and  yet 
a  cheerful  repose  seemed  to  hallow  the  atmosphere  around 
her.  The  sight  of  her  every  day  in  family  worship,  sitting 
by  in  such  tender  tranquillity,  with  such  a  smile  on  her  face, 
seemed  like  a  present  inspiration.  And  though  the  aged  pair 
knew  that  she  was  no  more  for  this  world,  yet  she  was  com 
forting  and  inspiring  to  their  view  as  the  angel  who  of  old 
rolled  back  the  stone  from  the  sepulchre  and  sat  upon  it. 
They  saw  in  her  eyes,  not  death,  but  the  solemn  victory 
which  Christ  gives  over  death. 

Bunyan  has  no  more  lovely  poem  than  the  image  he 
gives  of  that  land  of  pleasant  waiting  which  borders  the 
river  of  death,  where  the  chosen  of  the  Lord  repose,  while 
shining  messengers,  constantly  passing  and  repassing,  bear 
tidings  from  the  celestial  shore,  opening  a  way  between 
earth  and  heaven.  It  was  so,  that  through  the  very  thought 
of  Mara  an  influence  of  tenderness  and  tranquillity  passed 
through  the  whole  neighborhood,  keeping  hearts  fresh  with 
sympathy,  and  causing  thought  and  conversation  to  rest  on 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  401 

those  bright  mysteries  of  eternal  joy  which  were  reflected 
on  her  face. 

Sally  Kittridge  was  almost  a  constant  inmate  of  the  brown 
house,  ever  ready  in  watching  and  waiting ;  and  one  only 
needed  to  mark  the  expression  of  her  face  to  feel  that  a 
holy  charm  was  silently  working  upon  her  higher  and  spir 
itual  nature.  Those  great,  dark,  sparkling  eyes  that  once 
seemed  to  express  only  the  brightness  of  animal  vivacity, 
and  glittered  like  a  brook  in  unsympathetic  gayety,  had  in 
them  now  mysterious  depths,  and  tender,  fleeting  shadows, 
and  the  very  tone  of  her  voice  had  a  subdued  tremor.  The 
capricious  elf,  the  tricksy  sprite,  was  melting  away  in  the 
immortal  soul,  and  the  deep  pathetic  power  of  a  noble  heart 
was  being  born.  Some  influence  sprung  of  sorrow  is  neces 
sary  always  to  perfect  beauty  in  womanly  nature.  "We  feel 
its  absence  in  many  whose  sparkling  wit  and  high  spirits 
give  grace  and  vivacity  to  life,  but  in  whom  we  vainly  seek 
for  some  spot  of  quiet  tenderness  and  sympathetic  repose. 
Sally  was,  ignorantiy  to  herself,  changing  in  the  expression 
of  her  face  and  the  tone  of  -her  character,  as  she  ministered 
in  the  <daily  wants  which  sickness  brings  in  a  simple  house 
hold. 

For  the  rest  of  the  neighborhood,  the  shelves  and  larder 
of  Mrs.  Fennel  were  constantly  crowded  with  the  tributes 
which  one  or  another  sent  in  for  the  invalid.  There  was  jelly 
of  Iceland  moss  sent  across  by  Miss  Emily,  and  brought  by 
Mr.  Sewell,  whose  calls  were  almost  daily.  There  were 
custards  and  preserves,  and  every  form  of  cake  and  other 
confections  in  which  the  house-keeping  talent  of  the  neigh 
bors  delighted,  and  which  were  sent  in  under  the  old 
superstition  that  sick  people  must  be  kept  eating  at  all 
hazards. 


402  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

At  church,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  the  simple  note  re 
quested  the  prayers  of  the  church  and  congregation  for 
Mara  Lincoln,  who  was,  as  the  note  phrased  it,  drawing 
near  her  end,  that  she  and  all  concerned  might  be  prepared 
for  the  great  and  last  change.  One  familiar  with  New 
England  customs  must  have  remembered  with  what  a  plain 
tive  power  the  reading  of  such  a  note,  from  Sunday  to  Sun 
day,  has  drawn  the  thoughts  and  sympathies  of  a  congrega 
tion  to  some  chamber  of  sickness  ;  and  in  a  village  church, 
where  every  individual  is  known  from  childhood  to  every 
other,  the  power  of  this  simple  custom  is  still  greater. 

Then  the  prayers  of  the  minister  would  dwell  on  the 
case,  and  thanks  would  be  rendered  to  God  for  the  great 
light  and  peace  with  which  he  had  deigned  to  visit  his 
young  handmaid  ;  and  then  would  follow  a  prayer  that  when 
these  sad  tidings  should  reach  a  distant  friend  who  had 
gone  down  to  do  business  on  the  great  waters,  they  might 
be  sanctified  to  his  spiritual  and  everlasting  good.  Then 
on  Sunday  noons,  as  the  people  ate  their  dinners  together 
in  a  room  adjoining  the  church,  all  that  she  said  and  did 
was  talked  over  and  over,  —  how  quickly  she  had  gained 
the  victory  of  submission,  the  peace  of  a  will  united  with 
God's,  mixed  with  harmless  gossip  of  the  sick  chamber,  — • 
as  to  what  she  ate  and  how  she  slept,  and  who  had  sent 
her.  gruel  with  raisins  in  it,  and  who  jelly  with  wine,  and 
how  she  had  praised  this  and  eaten  that  twice  with  a  relish, 
but  how  the  other  had  seemed  to  disagree  with  her.  There 
after  would  come  scraps  of  nursing  information,  recipes 
against  coughing,  specifics  against  short  breath,  speculations 
about  watchers,  how  soon  she  would  need  them,  and  long 
legends  of  other  death-beds  where  the  fear  of  death  had 
been  slain  by  the  power  of  an  endless  life. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  403 

Yet  through  all  the  gossip,  and  through  much  that  might 
have  been  called  at  other  times  commonplace  cant  of  re 
ligion,  there  was  spread  a  tender  earnestness,  and  the  whole 
air  seemed  to  be  enchanted  with  the  fragrance  of  that  fading 
rose.  Each  one  spoke  more  gently,  more  lovingly  to  each, 
for  the  thought  of  her. 

It  was  now  a  bright  September  morning,  and  the  early 
frosts  had  changed  the  maples  in  the  pine-woods  to  scarlet, 
and  touched  the  white  birches  with  gold,  when  one  morning 
Miss  Roxy  presented  herself  at  an  early  hour  at  Captain 
Kittridge's. 

They  were  at  breakfast,  and  Sally  was  dispensing  the  tea 
at  the  head  of  the  table,  Mrs.  Kittridge  having  been  pre 
vailed  on  to  abdicate  in  her  favor. 

"  It  is  such  a  fine  morning,"  she  said,  looking  out  at  the 
window,  which  showed  a  waveless  expanse  of  ocean.  "  I 
do  hope  Mara  has  had  a  good  night." 

"  I  'm  a-goin'  to  make  her  some  jelly  this  very  forenoon," 
said  Mrs.  Kittridge.  "  Aunt  Roxy  was  a-tellin'  me  yester 
day  that  she  was  a-goin'  down  to  stay  at  the  house  regular, 
for  she  needed  so  much  done  now." 

"  It 's  'most  an  amazin'  thing  we  don't  hear  from  Moses 
Fennel,"  said  Captain  Kittridge.  "  If  he  don't  make  haste 
he  may  never  see  her." 

"  There  's  Aunt  Roxy  at  this  minute,"  said  Sally. 

In  truth  the  door  opened  at  this  moment,  and  Aunt  Roxy 
entered  with  a  little  blue  band-box  and  a  bundle  tied  up  in 
a  checked  handkerchief. 

"  Oh,  Aunt  Roxy,"  said  Mrs.  Kittridge,  "  you  are  on  your 
way,  are  you  ?  Do  sit  down,  right  here,  and  get  a  cup  of 


404  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Aunt  Roxy,  "  but  Ruey  gave  me  a 
humming  cup  before  I  came  away." 

"  Aunt  Roxy,  have  they  heard  anything  from  Moses  ?  " 
said  the  Captain. 

"  No,  father,  I  know  they  have  n't,"  said  Sally.  "  Mara 
has  written  to  him  and  so  has  Mr.  Sewell,  but  it  is  very 
uncertain  whether  he  ever  got  the  letters." 

"  It 's  most  time  to  be  a-lookin'  for  him  home,"  said 
the  Captain.  "  I  should  n't  be  surprised  to  see  him  any 
day." 

At  this  moment  Sally,  who  sat  where  she  could  see  from 
the  window,  gave  a  sudden  start  and  a  half  scream,  and  ris 
ing  from  the  table,  darted  first  to  the  window  and  then  to 
the  door,  whence  she  rushed  out  eagerly. 

"  Well,  what  now  ?  "  said  the  Captain. 

"  I  am  sure  I  don't  know  what 's  come  over  her,"  said 
Mrs.  Kittridge,  rising  to  look  out. 

"  Why,  Aunt  Roxy,  do  look ;  I  believe  to  my  soul  that 
ar  's  Moses  Fennel !  " 

And  so  it  was.  He  met  Sally,  as  she  ran  out,  with  a 
gloomy  brow  and  scarcely  a  look  even  of  recognition ;  but 
he  seized  her  hand  and  wrung  it  in  the  stress  of  his  emotion 
so  that  she  almost  screamed  with  the  pain. 

"  Tell  me,  Sally,"  he  said,  "  tell  me  the  truth.  I  dared 
not  go  home  without  I  knew.  Those  gossiping,  lying  re 
ports  are  always  exaggerated.  They  are  dreadful  exagger 
ations,  —  they  frighten  a  sick  person  into  the  grave  ;  but 
you  have  good  sense  and  a  hopeful,  cheerful  temper,  —  you 
must  see  and  know  how  things  are.  Mara  is  not  so  very 
—  very "  —  He  held  Sally's  hand  and  looked  at  her 
with  a  burning  eagerness.  "  Say,  what  do  you  think  of 
her?" 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  405 

"  We  all  think  that  we  cannot  long  keep  her  with  us," 
said  Sally.  "  And  oh,  Moses,  I  am  so  glad  you  have 
come." 

"  It 's  false,  —  it  must  be  false,"  he  said,  violently  ;  "  noth 
ing  is  more  deceptive  than  these  ideas  that  doctors  and 
nurses  pile  on  when  a  sensitive  person  is  going  down  a 
little.  I  know  Mara ;  everything  depends  on  the  mind 
with  her.  I  shall  wake  her  up  out  of  this  dream.  She 
is  not  to  die.  She  shall  not  die,  —  I  come  to  save  her." 

"  Oh,  if  you  could  ! "  said  Sally  mournfully. 

"  It  cannot  be  ;  it  is  not  to  be,"  he  said  again,  as  if  to 
convince  himself.  "  No  such  thing  is  to  be  thought  of. 
Tell  me,  Sally,  have  you  tried  to  keep  up  the  cheerful  side 
of  things  to  her,  —  have  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,  you  cannot  tell,  Moses,  how  it  is,  unless  you  see 
her.  She  is  cheerful,  happy ;  the  only  really  joyous  one 
among  us." 

"  Cheerful !  joyous !  happy !  She  does  not  believe,  then, 
these  frightful  things  ?  I  thought  she  would  keep  up ;  she 
is  a  brave  little  thing." 

"  No,  Moses,  she  does  believe.  She  has  given  up  all 
hope  of  life,  —  all  wish  to  live  ;  and  oh,  she  is  so  lovely,  — 
so  sweet,  —  so  dear." 

Sally  covered  her  face  with  her  hands  and  sobbed.  Moses 
stood  still,  looking  at  her  a  moment  in  a  confused  way,  and 
then  he  answered,  — 

"  Come,  get  your  bonnet,  Sally,  and  go  with  me.  You 
must  go  in  and  tell  them ;  tell  her  that  I  am  come,  you 
know." 

"  Yes,  I  will,"  said  Sally,  as  she  ran  quickly  back  to  the 
house. 

Moses  stood  listlessly  looking  after  her.     A  moment  after 


406  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

she  came  out  of  the  door  again,  and  Miss  Roxy  behind. 
Sally  harried  up  to  Moses. 

"  Where  's  that  black  old  raven  going  ? "  said  Moses,  in 
a  low  voice,  looking  back  on  Miss  Roxy,  who  stood  on  the 
steps  after  them. 

"  What,  Aunt  Roxy  ?  "  said  Sally ;  "  why,  she  's  going  up 
to  nurse  Mara,  and  take  care  of  her.  Mrs.  Fennel  is  so  old 
and  infirm  she  needs  somebody  to  depend  on." 

"  I  can't  bear  her,"  said  Moses.  "  I  always  think  of  sick 
rooms  and  coffins  and  a  stifling  smell  of  camphor  when  I 
see  her.  I  never  could  endure  her.  She  's  an  old  harpy 
going  to  carry  off  my  dove." 

"  Now,  Moses,  you  must  not  talk  so.  She  loves  Mara 
dearly,  the  poor  old  soul,  and  Mara  loves  her,  and  there  is 
no  earthly  thing  she  would  not  do  for  her.  And  she  knows 
what  to  do  for  sickness  better  than  you  or  I.  I  have  found 
out  one  thing,  that  it  is  n't  mere  love  and  good-will  that  is 
needed  in  a  sick-room  ;  it  needs  knowledge  and  experience." 

Moses  assented  in  gloomy  silence,  and  they  walked  on 
together  the  way  that  they  had  so  often  taken  laughing  and 
chatting.  When  they  came  within  sight  of  the  house,  Moses 
said,  — 

"  Here  she  came  running  to  meet  us ;  do  you  remem 
ber?" 

"Yes,"  said  Sally. 

"  I  was  never  half  worthy  of  her.  I  never  said  half  what 
I  ought  to,"  he  added.  "  She  must  live  !  I  must  have  one 
more  chance." 

When  they  came  up  to  the  house,  Zephaniah  Fennel  was 
sitting  in  the  door,  with  his  gray  head  bent  over  the  leaves 
of  the  great  family  Bible. 

He  rose  up  at  their  coming,  and  with  that  suppression  of 


THE  PEARL   OF   ORE'S   ISLAND.  407 

all  external  signs  of  feeling  for  which  the  New  Englander  is 
remarkable,  simply  shook  the  hand  of  Moses,  saying,  — 

"  Well,  my  boy,  we  are  glad  you  have  come." 

Mrs.  Fennel,  who  was  busied  in  some  domestic  work  in 
the  back  part  of  the  kitchen,  turned  away  and  hid  her  face 
in  her  apron  when  she  saw  him.  There  fell  a  great  silence 
among  them,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  old  clock  ticked  loud 
ly  and  importunately,  like  the  inevitable  approach  of  fate. 

"  I  will  go  up  and  see  her,  and  get  her  ready,"  said  Sally, 
in  a  whisper  to  Moses.  "  I  '11  come  and  call  you." 

Moses  sat  down  and  looked  around  on  the  old  familiar  scene  ; 
there  was  the  great  fireplace  where,  in  their  childish  days, 
they  had  sat  together  winter  nights,  —  her  fair,  spiritual  face 
enlivened  by  the  blaze,  while  she  knit  and  looked  thought 
fully  into  the  coals ;  there  she  had  played  checkers,  or  fox 
and  geese,  with  him ;  or  studied  with  him  the  Latin  lessons ; 
or  sat  by,  grave  and  thoughtful,  hemming  his  toy-ship  sails, 
while  he  cut  the  moulds  for  his  anchors,  or  tried  experiments 
on  pulleys  ;  and  in  all  these  years  he  could  not  remember 
one  selfish  action,  —  one  unlovely  word,  —  and  he  thought 
to  himself,  —  "I  hoped  to  possess  this  angel  as  a  mortal 
wife  !  God  forgive  my  presumption." 


408  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND, 


CHAPTER  XL. 

SALLY  found  Mara  sitting  in  an  easy-chair  that  had  been 
sent  to  her  by  the  provident  love  of  Miss  Emily.  It  was 
wheeled  in  front  of  her  room  window,  from  whence  she  could 
look  out  upon  the  wide  expanse  of  the  ocean.  It  was  a 
gloriously  bright,  calm  morning,  and  the  water  lay  clear  and 
still,  with  scarce  a  ripple,  to  the  far  distant  pearly  horizon. 
She  seemed  to  be  looking  at  it  in  a  kind  of  calm  ecstasy, 
and  murmuring  the  words  of  a  hymn :  — 

"  Nor  wreck  nor  ruin  there  is  seen, 

There  not  a  wave  of  trouble  rolls, 
But  the  bright  rainbow  round  the  throne 
Peals  endless  peace  to  all  their  souls." 

Sally  came  softly  behind  her  on  tiptoe  to  kiss  her.  "  Good- 
morning,  dear,  how  do  you  find  yourself  ?  " 

"  Quite  well,"  was  the  answer. 

"  Mara,  is  not  there  anything  you  want  ?  " 

"  There  might  be  many  things  ;  but  His  will  is  mine." 

"  You  want  to  see  Moses  ?  " 

"  Very  much ;  but  I  shall  see  him  as  soon  as  it  is  best  for 
us  both." 

"  Mara,  —  he  is  come." 

|  The  quick  blood  flushed  over  the  pale,  transparent  face  as 
a  virgin  glacier  flushes  at  sunrise,  and  she  looked  up  eagerly. 
«  Come ! " 

"  Yes,  he  is  below-stairs  wanting  to  see  you." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  409 

She  seemed  about  to  speak  eagerly,  and  then  checked 
herself  and  mused  a  moment.  "  Poor,  poor  boy ! "  she 
said.  "  Yes,  Sally,  let  him  come  at  once." 

There  were  a  few  dazzling,  dreamy  minutes  when  Moses 
first  held  that  frail  form  in  his  arms,  which  but  for  its  tender, 
mortal  warmth,  might  have  seemed  to  him  a  spirit.  It  was 
no  spirit,  but  a  woman  whose  heart  he  could  feel  thrilling 
against  his  own  ;  who  seemed  to  him  like  some  frail,  flutter 
ing  bird ;  but  somehow,  as  he  looked  into  her  clear,  trans 
parent  face,  and  pressed  her  thin  little  hands  in  his,  the  con 
viction  stole  over  him  overpoweringly  that  she  was  indeed 
fading  away  and  going  from  him,  —  drawn  from  him  by  that 
mysterious,  irresistible  power  against  which  human  strength, 
even  in  the  strongest,  has  no  chance. 

It  is  dreadful  to  a  strong  man  who  has  felt  the  influence 
of  his  strength,  —  who  has  always  been  ready  with  a  re 
source  for  every  emergency,  and  a  weapon  for  every  battle, 

—  when  first  he  meets  that  mighty  invisible  power  by  which 
a  beloved  life  —  a  life  he  would  give  his  own  blood  to  save 

—  melts  and  dissolves  like  smoke  before  his  eyes. 

"  Oh,  Mara,  Mara,"  he  groaned,  "  this  is  too  dreadful,  too 
cruel ;  it  is  cruel" 

"You  will  think  so  at  first,  but  not  always,"  she  said, 
soothingly.  "  You  will  live  to  see  a  joy  come  out  of  this 
sorrow." 

"Never,  Mara,  never.  I  cannot  believe  that  kind  of  talk. 
I  see  no  love,  no  mercy  in  it.  Of  course,  if  there  is  any 
life  after  death  you  will  be  happy  ;  if  there  is  a  heaven 
you  will  be  there ;  but  can  this  dim,  unsubstantial,  cloudy 
prospect  make  you  happy  in  leaving  me  and  giving  up  one's 
lover  ?  Oh,  Mara,  you  cannot  love  as  I  do,  or  you  could 

not " 

18 


410  THE  PEARL   OF   ORR'S   ISLAND. 

"  Moses,  I  have  suffered,  —  oh,  very,  very  much.  It  was 
many  months  ago  when  I  first  thought  that  I  must  give 
everything  up,  —  when  I  thought  that  we  must  part ;  but 
Christ  helped  me  ;  he  showed  me  his  wonderful  love,  —  the 
love  that  surrounds  us  all  our  life,  that  follows  us  in  all  our 
wanderings,  and  sustains  us  in  all  our  weaknesses,  —  and 
then  I  felt  that  whatever  He  wills  for  us  is  in  love  ;  oh,  be 
lieve  it,  —  believe  it  for  my  sake,  for  your  own." 

"  Oh,  I  cannot,  I  cannot,"  said  Moses  ;  but  as  he  looked  at 
the  bright,  pale  face,  and  felt  how  the  tempest  of  his  feelings 
shook  the  frail  form,  he  checked  himself.  "  I  do  wrong  to 
agitate  you  so,  Mara.  I  will  try  to  be  calm." 

"  And  to  pray  ?  "  she  said,  beseechingly. 

He  shut  his  lips  in  gloomy  silence. 

"  Promise  me,"  she  said. 

"  I  have  prayed  ever  since  I  got  your  first  letter,  and  I 
see  it  does  no  good,"  he  answered.  "  Our  prayers  cannot 
alter  fate." 

"  Fate !  there  is  no  fate,"  she  answered  ;  "  there  is  a 
strong  and  loving  Father  who  guides  the  way,  though  we 
know  it  not.  We  cannot  resist  His  will ;  but  it  is  all  love, 
—  pure,  pure  love." 

At  this  moment  Sally  came  softly  into  the  room.  A  gen 
tle  air  of  womanly  authority  seemed  to  express  itself  in  that 
once  gay  and  giddy  face,  at  which  Moses,  in  the  midst  of  his 
misery,  marvelled. 

"  You  must  not  stay  any  longer  now,"  she  said  ;  "  it  would 
be  too  much  for  her  strength  ;  this  is  enough  for  this  morn 
ing." 

Moses  turned  away,  and  silently  left  the  room,  and  Sally 
said  to  Mara,  — 

"  You  must  lie  down  now  and  rest." 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  411 

"  Sally,"  said  Mara,  "  promise  me  one  thing." 

"  Well,  Mara  ;  of  course  I  will." 

"  Promise  to  love  him  and  care  for  him  when  I  am  gone  ; 
he  will  be  so  lonely." 

"  I  will  do  all  I  can,  Mara,"  said  Sally,  soothingly ;  "  so 
now  you  must  take  a  little  wine  and  lie  down.  You  know 
what  you  have  so  often  said,  that  all  will  yet  be  well  with 
him." 

"  Oh,  I  know  it,  I  am  sure,"  said  Mara,  "  but  oh,  his  sor 
row  shook  my  very  heart." 

"  You  must  not  talk  another  word  about  it,"  said  Sally, 
peremptorily.  "  Do  you  know  Aunt  Roxy  is  coming  to  see 
you  ?  I  see  her  out  of  the  window  this  very  moment." 

And  Sally  assisted  to  lay  her  friend  on  the  bed,  and  then, 
administering  a  stimulant,  she  drew  down  the  curtains,  and, 
sitting  beside  her,  began  repeating,  in  a  soft,  monotonous 
tone,  the  words  of  a  favorite  hymn  :  — 

"  The  Lord  my  shepherd  is, 
I  shall  be  well  supplied; 
Since  He  is  mine,  and  I  am  His, 
What  can  I  want  beside?  " 

Before  she  had  finished,  Mara  was  asleep. 


412  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

MOSES  came  down  from  the  chamber  of  Mara  in  a  tem 
pest  of  contending  emotions.  He  had  all  that  constitutional 
horror  of  death  and  the  spiritual  world,  which  is  an  attribute 
of  some  particularly  strong  and  well-endowed  physical  na 
tures,  and  he  had  all  that  instinctive  resistance  of  the  will 
which  such  natures  offer  to  anything  which  strikes  athwart 
their  cherished  hopes  and  plans. 

To  be  wrenched  suddenly  from  the  sphere  of  an  earthly 
life  and  made  to  confront  the  unclosed  doors  of  a  spiritual 
world  on  the  behalf  of  the  one  dearest  to  him,  was  to  him  a 
dreary  horror  uncheered  by  one  filial  belief  in  God.  He 
felt,  furthermore,  that  blind  animal  irritation  which  assails 
one  under  a  sudden  blow,  whether  of  the  body  or  of  the  soul, 
—  an  anguish  of  resistance,  —  a  vague  blind  anger. 

Mr.  Sewell  was  sitting  in  the  kitchen,  —  he  had  called  to 
see  Mara,  and  waited  for  the  close  of  the  interview  above. 
He  rose  and  offered  his  hand  to  Moses,  —  who  took  it  in 
gloomy  silence,  without  a  smile  or  word. 

" '  My  son,  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lord,' " 
said  Mr.  Sewell. 

"  I  cannot  bear  that  sort  of  thing,"  said  Moses  abruptly, 
and  almost  fiercely.  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  it  irri 
tates  me." 

"  Do  you  not  believe  that  afflictions  are  sent  for  our  im 
provement  ?  "  said  Mr.  Sewell. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  413 

"  No  !  how  can  I !  What  improvement  will  there  be  to 
me  in  taking  from  me  the  angel  who  guided  me  to  all  good, 
and  kept  me  from  all  evil ;  the  one  pure  motive  and  holy  in 
fluence  of  my  life  ?  If  you  call  this  the  chastening  of  a  lov 
ing  father,  I  must  say  it  looks  more  to  me  like  the  caprice 
of  an  evil  spirit." 

"  Had  you  ever  thanked  the  God  of  your  life  for  this  gift, 
or  felt  your  dependence  on  him  to  keep  it  ?  Have  you  not 
blindly  idolized  the  creature  and  forgotten  Him  who  gave 
it?"  said  Mr.  Sewell. 

Moses  was  silent  a  moment. 

"  I  cannot  believe  there  is  a  God,"  he  said.  "  Since  this 
fear  came  on  me  I  have  prayed,  —  yes,  and  humbled  myself; 
for  I  know  I  have  not  always  been  what  I  ought.  I  prom 
ised  if  he  would  grant  me  this  one  thing,  I  would  seek  him 
in  future  ;  but  it  did  no  good,  —  it's  of  no  use  to  pray.  I 
would  have  been  good  in  this  way,  if  she  might  be  spared, 
and  I  cannot  in  any  other." 

"  My  son,  our  Lord  and  Master  will  have  no  such  condi 
tions  from  us,"  said  Mr.  Sewell.  "  We  must  submit  uncon 
ditionally.  She  has  done  it,  and  her  peace  is  as  firm  as  the 
everlasting  hills.  God's  will  is  a  great  current  that  flows 
in  spite  of  us  ;  if  we  go  with  it,  it  carries  us  to  endless 
rest5 — if  we  resist,  we  only  wear  our  lives  out  in  useless 
struggles." 

Moses  stood  a  moment  in  silence,  and  then,  turning  away 
without  a  word,  hurried  from  the  house.  He  strode  along  the 
high  rocky  bluff,  through  tangled  junipers  and  pine  thick 
ets,  till  he  came  above  the  rocky  cove  which  had  been  his 
favorite  retreat  on  so  many  occasions.  He  swung  himself 
down  over  the  cliffs  into  the  grotto,  where,  shut  in  by  the 
high  tide,  he  felt  himself  alone.  There  he  had  read  Mr. 


414  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

Sewell's  letter,  and  dreamed  vain  dreams  of  wealth  and 
worldly  success,  now  all  to  him  so  void.  He  felt  to-day, 
as  he  sat  there  and  watched  the  ships  go  by,  how  utterly 
nothing  all  the  wealth  in  the  world  was,  in  the  loss  of  that 
one  heart.  Unconsciously,  even  to  himself,  sorrow  was  do 
ing  her  ennobling  ministry  within  him,  melting  off  in  her 
fierce  fires  trivial  ambitions  and  low  desires,  and  making 
him  feel  the  sole  worth  and  value  of  love.  That  which  in 
other  days  had  seemed  only  as  one  good  thing  among  many 
now  seemed  the  only  thing  in  life.  And  he  who  has  learned 
the  paramount  value  of  love  has  taken  one  step  from  an 
earthly  to  a  spiritual  existence. 

But  as  he  lay  there  on  the  pebbly  shore,  hour  after  hour 
glided  by,  his  whole  past  life  lived  itself  over  to  his  eye  ; 
he  saw  a  thousand  actions,  he  heard  a  thousand  words, 
whose  beauty  and  significance  never  came  to  him  till  now. 
And  alas  !  he  saw  so  many  when,  on  his  part,  the  respon 
sive  word  that  should  have  been  spoken,  and  the  deed  that 
should  have  been  done,  was  forever  wanting.  He  had  all  his 
life  carried  within  him  a  vague  consciousness  that  he  had  not 
been  to  Mara  what  he  should  have  been,  but  he  had  hoped 
to  make  amends  for  all  in  that  future  which  lay  before  him, 
—  that  future  now,  alas!  dissolving  and  fading  away  like  the 
white  cloud-islands  which  the  wind  was  drifting  from  the 
sky.  A  voice  seemed  saying  in  his  ears,  "  Ye  know  that 
when  he  would  have  inherited  a  blessing  he  was  rejected ; 
for  he  found  no  place  for  repentance,  though  he  sought  it 
carefully  with  tears."  Something  that  he  had  never  felt 
before  struck  him  as  appalling  in  the  awful  fixedness  of 
all  past  deeds  and  words,  —  the  unkind  words  once  said, 
which  no  tears  could  unsay,  —  the  kind  ones  suppressed,  to 
which  no  agony  of  wishfulness  could  give  a  past  reality. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  415 

There  were  particular  times  in  their  past  history  that  he  re 
membered  so  vividly,  when  he  saw  her  so  clearly,  —  doing 
some  little  thing  for  him,  and  shyly  watching  for  the  word 
of  acknowledgment,  which  he  did  not  give.  Some  wilful 
wayward  demon  withheld  him  at  the  moment,  and  the  light 
on  the  little  wishful  face  slowly  faded.  True,  all  had  been  a 
thousand  times  forgiven  and  forgotten  between  them,  but  it 
is  the  ministry  of  these  great  vital  hours  of  sorrow  to 
teach  us  that  nothing  in  the  soul's  history  ever  dies  or  is  : 
forgotten,  and  when  the  beloved  one  lies  stricken  and  ready 
to  pass  away,  comes  the  judgment-day  of  love,  and  all  the 
dead  moments  of  the  past  arise  and  live  again. 

He  lay  there  musing  and  dreaming  till  the  sun  grew  low 
in  the  afternoon  sky,  and  the  tide  that  isolated  the  little 
grotto  had  gone  far  out  into  the  ocean,  leaving  long  low  reefs 
of  sunken  rocks,  all  matted  and  tangled  with  the  yellow 
hair  of  the  sea-weed,  with  little  crystal  pools  of  salt  water 
between.  -  He  heard  the  sound  of  approaching  footsteps, 
and  Captain  Kittridge  came  slowly  picking  his  way  round 
among  the  shingle  and  pebbles/ 

"  Wai'  now,  I  thought  I  'd  find  ye  here  !  "  he  said.  «  I 
kind  o'  thought  I  wanted  to  see  ye,  —  ye  see." 

Moses  looked  up  half  moody,  half  astonished,  while  the 
Captain  seated  himself  upon  a  fragment  of  rock  and  began 
brushing  the  knees  of  his  trousers  industriously,  until  soon 
the  tears  rained  down  from  his  eyes  upon  his  dry  withered 
hands. 

"  "Wai'  now  ye  see,  I  can't  help  it,  darned  if  I  can ; 
knowed  her  ever  since  she  's  that  high.  She  's  done  me 
good,  she  has.  Mis'  Kittridge  has  been  pretty  faithful. 
I  've  had  folks  here  and  there  talk  to  me  consid'able,  but 
Lord  bless  you,  I  never  had  nothin'  go  to  my  heart  like 


416  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

this  'ere Why  to  look  on  her  there  couldn't  nobody 

doubt  but  what  there  was  somethin'  in  religion.  You  never 
knew  half  what  she  did  for  you,  Moses  Fennel,  you  did  n't 
know  that  the  night  you  was  off  down  to  the  long  cove  with 
Skipper  Atkinson,  that  'ere  blessed  child  was  a-follerin'  you, 
but  she  was,  and  she  come  to  me  next  day  to  get  me  to  do 
somethin'  for  you.  That  was  how  your  grand'ther  and  I 
got  ye  off  to  sea  so  quick,  and  she  such  a  little  thing  then ; 
that  ar  child  was  the  savin'  of  ye,  Moses  Fennel."  Moses 
hid  his  head  in  his  hands  with  a  sort  of  groan. 

"  Wai',  wal',"  said  the  Captain,  "  I  don't  wonder  now  ye 
feel  so,  —  I  don't  see  how  ye  can  stan'  it  no  ways  —  only 

by  thinkin'  o'  where  she  's  goin'  to Them  ar  bells  in 

the  Celestial  City  must  all  be  a-ringin'  for  her,  —  there  '11 
be  joy  that  side  o'  the  river  I  reckon  when  she  gets  acrost. 
If  she  'd  jest  leave  me  a  hem  o'  her  garment  to  get  in  by,  I  'd 
be  glad ;  but  she  was  one  o'  the  sort  that  was  jest  made  to 
go  to  heaven.  She  only  stopped  a  few  days  in  our  world, 
like  the  robins  when  they  's  goin'  South  ;  but  there  '11  be  a 
good  many  fust  and  last  that'll  get  into  the  kingdom  for 
love  of  her.  She  never  said  much  to  me,  but  she  kind  o' 
drew  me.  Ef  ever  I  should  get  in  there,  it  '11  be  she  led 
me.  But  come,  now,  Moses,  ye  ought  n't  fur  to  be  a-set- 
tin'  here  catchin'  cold — jest  come  round  to  our  house  and 
let  Sally  gin  you  a  warm  cup  o'  tea  —  do  come,  now." 

"  Thank  you,  Captain,"  said  Moses,  "  but  I  will  go  home  ; 
I  must  see  her  again  to-night." 

"  Wal',  don't  let  her  see  you  grieve  too  much,  ye  know  ; 
we  must  be  a  little  sort  o'  manly,  ye  know,  'cause  her  body  's 
weak,  if  her  heart  is  strong." 

Now  Moses  was  in  a  mood  of  dry,  proud,  fierce,  self-con 
suming  sorrow,  least  likely  to  open  his  heart  or  seek  sym- 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  417 

pa  thy  from  any  one ;  and  no  friend  or  acquaintance  would 
probably  have  dared  to  intrude  on  his  grief.  But  there  are 
moods  of  the  mind  which  cannot  be  touched  or  handled  by 
one  on  an  equal  level  with  us  that  yield  at  once  to  the 
sympathy  of  something  below.  A  dog  who  comes  with  his 
great  honest,  sorrowful  face  and  lays  his  mute  paw  of  inquiry 
on  your  knee,  will  sometimes  open  floodgates  of  softer  feel 
ing,  that  have  remained  closed  -to  every  human  touch ;  — 
the  dumb  simplicity  and  ignorance  of  his  sympathy  makes 
it  irresistible.  In  like  manner  the  downright  grief  of  the 
good-natured  old  Captain,  and  the  child-like  ignorance  with 
which  he  ventured  upon  a  ministry  of  consolation  from  which 
a  more  cultivated  person  would  have  shrunk  away,  were  ir 
resistibly  touching.  Moses  grasped  the  dry,  withered  hand 
and  said,  "  Thank  you,  thank  you,  Captain  Kittridge  ;  you  're 
a  true  friend." 

"  Wai',  I  be,  that 's  a  fact,  Moses  —  Lord  bless  me,  I  a'n't 
no  great  —  I  a'n't  nobody  —  I  'm  jest  an  old  last-year's  mul 
lein-stalk  in  the  Lord's  vineyard  —  but  that  'ere  blessed  lit 
tle  thing  allers  had  a  good  word  for  me.  She  gave  me  a 
hymn-book  and  marked  some  hymns  in  it,  and  read  'em  to 
me  herself,  and  her  voice  was  jest  as  sweet  as  the  sea  of  a 
warm  evening.  Them  hymns  come  to  me  kind  o'  powerful 
when  I  'm  at  my  work  planin'  and  sawin'.  Mis'  Kittridge, 
she  allers  talks  to  me  as  ef  I  was  a  terrible  sinner ;  and  I 
suppose  I  be,  but  this  'ere  blessed  child,  she 's  so  kind  o'  good 
and  innocent,  she  thinks  I  'm  good  ;  kind  o'  takes  it  for 
granted  I  'm  one  o'  the  Lord's  people,  ye  know.  It  kind  o' 
makes  me  want  to  be,  ye  know." 

The  Captain  here  produced  from  his  coat-pocket  a  much 
worn  hymn-book,  and  showed  Moses  where  leaves  were 
folded  down.  "  Now  here  's  this  'ere,"  he  said  ;  "  you  get 
18* 


418  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

her  to  say  it  to  you,"  he  added,  pointing  to  the  well-known 
sacred  idyl  which  has  refreshed  so  many  hearts :  — 

"  There  is  a  land  of  pure  delight 
Where  saints  immortal  reign; 
Eternal  day  excludes  the  night, 
And  pleasures  banish  pain. 

There  everlasting  spring  abides, 

And  never-fading  flowers; 
Death  like  a  narrow  sea  divides 

This  happy  land  from  ours." 

"  Now  that  ar  beats  everything,"  said  the  Captain, 
"  and  we  must  kind  o'  think  of  it  for  her,  'cause  she 's 
goin*  to  see  all  that,  and  ef  it 's  our  loss  it 's  her  gain,  ye 
know." 

"  I  know,"  said  Moses ;  "  our  grief  is  selfish." 

"  Jest  so.  Wai',  we  're  selfish  critters,  we  be,"  said  the 
Captain  ;  "  but  arter  all  't  a'n't  as  ef  we  was  heathen  and 
did  n't  know  where  they  was  a-goin'  to.  We  jest  ought  to 
be  a-lookin'  about  and  tryin'  to  foller  'em,  ye  know." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  do  know,"  said  Moses ;  "  it 's  easy  to  say,  but 
hard  to  do." 

"  But  law,  man,  she  prays  for  you  ;  —  she  did  years  and 
years  ago,  when  you  was  a  boy  and  she  a  girl.  You  know 
it  tells  in  the  Revelations  how  the  angels  has  golden  vials 
full  of  odors  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints.  I  tell  ye, 
Moses,  you  ought  to  get  into  heaven,  if  no  one  else  does.  I 
expect  you  are  pretty  well  known  among  the  angels  by  this 
time.  I  tell  ye  what  't  is,  Moses,  fellers  think  it  a  mighty 
pretty  thing  to  be  a-steppin'  high,  and  a-sayin'  they  don't 
believe  the  Bible,  and  all  that  ar,  so  long  as  the  world  goes 

nivell.     This  'ere  old  Bible  —  why  it 's  jest  like  yer  mother, 
—  ye  rove  and  ramble,  and  cut  up  round  the  world  without 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  419 

her  a  spell,  and  mebbe  think  the  old  woman  a'n't  so  fashion 
able  as  some ;  but  when  sickness  and  sorrow  comes,  why, 
there  a'n't  nothin'  else  to  go  back  to.  Is  there,  now  ?  " 

Moses  did  not  answer,  but  he  shook  the  hand  of  the  Cap 
tain  and  turned  away. 


420  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 


CHAPTER   XLII. 

THE  setting  sun  gleamed  in  at  the  window  of  Mara's 
chamber,  tinted  with  rose  and  violet  hues  from  a  great  cloud- 
castle  that  lay  upon  the  smooth  ocean  over  against  the  win 
dow.  Mara  was  lying  upon  the  bed,  but  she  raised  herself 
upon  her  elbow  to  look  out. 

"  Dear  Aunt  Roxy,"  she  said,  "  raise  me  up  and  put  the 
pillows  behind  me,  so  that  I  can  see  out  —  it  is  splendid." 

Aunt  Roxy  came  and  arranged  the  pillows,  and  lifted  the 
girl  with  her  long,  strong  arms,  then  stooping  over  her  a 
moment  she  finished  her  arrangements  by  softly  smoothing 
the  hair  from  her  forehead  with  a  caressing  movement  most 
unlike  her  usual  precise  business-like  proceedings. 

"  I  love  you,  Aunt  Roxy,"  said  Mara,  looking  up  with  a 
smile. 

Aunt  Roxy  made  a  strange  wry  face,  which  caused  her 
to  look  harder  than  usual.  She  was  choked  with  tender 
ness,  and  had  only  this  uncomely  way  of  showing  it. 

"  Law  now,  Mara,  I  don't  see  how  ye  can ;  I  a'n't  nothin' 
but  an  old  burdock-bush  ;  —  love  a'n't  for  me." 

"  Yes  it  is  too,"  said  Mara,  drawing  her  down  and  kissing 
her  withered  cheek,  "  and  you  sha'n't  call  yourself  an  old 
burdock.  God  sees  that  you  are  beautiful,  and  in  the  res 
urrection  everybody  will  see  it." 

r — "  I  was  always  homely  as  an  owl,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  un 
consciously  speaking  out  what  had  lain  like  a  stone  at  the 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  421 

bottom  of  even  her  sensible  heart.  "  I  always  had  sense  to 
know  it,  and  knew  my  sphere.  Homely  folks  would  like  to 
say  pretty  things,  and  to  have  pretty  things  said  to  them,  but 
they  never  do.  I  made  up  my  mind  pretty  early  that  my 
part  in  the  vineyard  was  to  have  hard  work  and  no  posies." 

"  Well,  you  will  have  all  the  more  in  heaven  ;  —  I  love 
you  dearly,  and  I  like  your  looks,  too.  You  look  kind  and 
true  and  good,  and  that 's  beauty  in  the  country  where  we 
are  going." 

Miss  Roxy  sprang  up  quickly  from  the  bed,  and  turning 
her  back  began  to  arrange  the  bottles  on  the  table  with  great 
zeal. 

"  Has  Moses  come  in  yet  ?  "  said  Mara. 

"  No,  there  Vn't  nobody  seen  a  thing  of  him  since  he 
went  out  this  morning." 

"  Poor  boy !  "  said  Mara,  "  it  is  too  hard  upon  him.  Aunt 
Roxy,  please  pick  some  roses  off  the  bush  from  under  the 
window  and  put  in  the  vases  ;  let 's  have  the  room  as  sweet 
and  cheerful  as  we  can.  I  hope  God  will  let  me  live  long 
enough  to  comfort  him.  It  is  not  so  very  terrible,  if  one 
would  only  think  so,  to  cross  that  river.  All  looks  so  bright 
to  me  now  that  I  have  forgotten  how  sorrow  seemed.  Poor 
Moses !  he  will  have  a  hard  struggle,  but  he  will  get  the 
victory,  too.  I  am  very  weak  to-night,  but  to-morrow  I 
shall  feel  better,  and  I  shall  sit  up,  and  perhaps  I  can  paint 
a  little  on  that  flower  I  was  doing  for  him.  We  will  not 
have  things  look  sickly  or  deathly.  There,  Aunt  Roxy,  he 
has  come  in  ;  I  hear  his  step." 

"  I  did  n't  hear  it,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  surprised  at  the  acute 
senses  which  sickness  had  etherealized  to  an  almost  spirit- 
like  intensity.  "  Shall  I  call  him  ?  " 


4 

422  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

"  Yes,  do,"  said  Mara.  "  He  can  sit  with  me  a  little 
while  to-night." 

The  light  in  the  room  was  a  strange  dusky  mingling  of 
gold  and  gloom,  when  Moses  stole  softly  in.  The  great 
cloud-castle  that  a  little  while  since  had  glowed  like  living 
gold  from  turret  and  battlement,  now  dim,  changed  for  the 
most  part  to  a  sombre  gray,  enlivened  with  a  dull  glow  of 
crimson  ;  but  there  was  still  a  golden  light  where  the  sun 
had  sunk  into  the  sea.  Moses  saw  the  little  thin  hand 
stretched  out  to  him. 

"  Sit  down,"  she  said ;  "  it  has  been  such  a  beautiful  sun 
set.  Did  you  notice  it  ?  " 

He  sat  down  by  the  bed,  leaning  his  forehead  on  his  hand, 
but  saying  nothing. 

She  drew  her  fingers  through  his  dark  hair.  "  I  am  so 
glad  to  see  you,"  she  said.  "  It  is  such  a  comfort  to  me  that 
you  have  come ;  and  I  hope  it  will  be  to  you.  You  know  I 
shall  be  better  to-morrow  than  I  am  to-night,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  have  some  pleasant  days  together  yet.  We  must  n't 
reject  what  little  we  may  have,  because  it  cannot  be  more." 

"  Oh,  Mara,"  said  Moses,  "  I  would  give  my  life,  if  I  could 
take  back  the  past.  I  have  never  been  worthy  of  you ; 
never  knew  your  worth ;  never  made  you  happy.  You  al 
ways  lived  for  me,  and  I  lived  for  myself.  I  deserve  to 
lose  you,  but  it  is  none  the  less  bitter." 

"  Don't  say  lose.  Why  must  you  ?  I  cannot  think  of 
losing  you.  I  know  I  shall  not.  God  has  given  you  to  me. 
You  will  come  to  me  and  be  mine  at  last.  I  feel  sure  of  it." 

"  You  don't  know  me,"  said  Moses. 

"  Christ  does,  though,"  she  said ;  "  and  He  has  promised  to 
care  for  you.  Yes,  you  will  live  to  see  many  flowers  grow 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  423 

out  of  my  grave.  You  cannot  think  so  now  ;  but  it  will  be 
so  —  believe  me." 

"  Mara,"  said  Moses,  "  I  never  lived  through  such  a  day 
as  this.  It  seems  as  if  every  moment  of  my  life  had 
been  passing  before  me,  and  every  moment  of  yours.  I 
have  seen  how  true  and  loving  in  thought  and  word  and  deed 
you  have  been,  and  I  have  been  doing  nothing  but  take  — 
take.  You  have  given  love  as  the  skies  give  rain,  and  I 
have  drunk  it  up  like  the  hot  dusty  earth." 

Mara  knew  in  her  own  heart  that  this  was  all  true,  and 
she  was  too  real  to  use  any  of  the  terms  of  affected  humili 
ation  which  many  think  a  kind  of  spiritual  court  language. 
She  looked  at  him  and  answered,  "  Moses,  I  always  knew  I 
loved  most.  It  was  my  nature ;  God  gave  it  to  me,  and  it 
was  a  gift  for  which  I  give  Him  thanks  —  not  a  merit.  I 
knew  you  had  a  larger,  wider  nature  than  mine,  —  a  wider 
sphere  to  live  in,  arid  that  you  could  not  live  in  your  heart 
as  I  did.  Mine  was  all  thought  and  feeling,  and  the  narrow 
little  duties  of  this  little  home.  Yours  went  all  round  the 
world." 

"  But,  oh  Mara  —  oh,  my  angel !  to  think  I  should  lose 
you  when  I  am  just  beginning  to  know  your  worth.  I  al 
ways  had  a  sort  of  superstitious  feeling,  —  a  sacred  presenti 
ment  about  you,  —  that  my  spiritual  life,  if  ever  I  had  any, 
would  come  through  you.  It  seemed  if  there  ever  was  such 
a  thing  as  God's  providence,  which  some  folks  believe  in,  it 
was  in  leading  me  to  you,  and  giving  you  to  me.  And  now, 
to  have  all  dashed  —  all  destroyed  —  It  makes  me  feel  as 
if  all  was  blind  chance ;  no  guiding  God  ;  for  if  He  wanted 
me  to  be  good,  He  would  spare  you." 

Mara  lay  with  her  large  eyes  fixed  on  the  now  faded  sky. 
The  dusky  shadows  had  dropped  like  a  black  crape  veil 


424  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S   ISLAND. 

around  her  pale  face.  In  a  few  moments  she  repeated  to 
herself,  as  if  she  were  musing  upon  them,  those  mysterious 
words  of  Him  who  liveth  and  was  dead,  "  Except  a  corn  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone  ;  if  it  die, 
it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 

"  Moses,"  she  said,  "  for  all  I  know  you  have  loved  me 
dearly,  yet  I  have  felt  that  in  all  that  was  deepest  and  dear 
est  to  me,  I  was  alone.  You  did  not  come  near  to  me,  nor 
touch  me  where  I  feel  most  deeply.  If  I  had  lived  to  be 
your  wife,  I  cannot  say  but  this  distance  in  our  spiritual 
nature  might  have  widened.  You  know,  what  we  live  with 
we  get  used  to;  it  grows  an  old  story.  Your  love  to  me 
might  have  grown  old  and  worn  out.  If  we  lived  together 
in  the  commonplace  toils  of  life,  you  would  see  only  a  poor 
threadbare  wife.  I  might  have  lost  what  little  charm  I  ever 
had  for  you ;  but  I  feel  that  if  I  die,  this  will  not  be.  \  There 
is  something  sacred  and  beautiful  in  death  ;  andJCjnay  have 
more  power  over_ypu,  when  I  seem  to  be  gone,  than  I  should 
have  had  living." \ 

"  Oh,  Mara,  Mara,  don't  say  that." 

"  Dear  Moses,  it  is  so.  Think  how  many  lovers  marry, 
and  how  few  lovers  are  left  in  middle  life ;  and  how  few  love 
and  reverence  living  friends  as  they  do  the  dead.  There 
are  only  a  very  few  to  whom  it  is  given  to  do  that." 

Something  in  the  heart  of  Moses  told  him  that  this  was 
true.  In  this  one  day  —  the  sacred  revealing  light  of  ap 
proaching  death  —  he  had  seen  more  of  the  real  spiritual 
beauty  and  significance  of  Mara's  life  than  in  years  before, 
and  felt  upspringing  in  his  heart,  from  the  deep  pathetic 
influence  of  the  approaching  spiritual  world,  a  new  and 
stronger  power  of  loving.  It  may  be  that  it  is  not  merely  a 
perception  of  love  that  we  were  not  aware  of  before,  that 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  425 

wakes  up  when  we  approach  the  solemn  shadows  with  a 
friend.  It  may  be  that  the  soul  has  compressed  and  uncon 
scious  powers  which  are  stirred  and  wrought  upon  as  it  looks 
over  the  borders  into  its  future  home,  —  its  loves  and  its 
longings  so  swell  and  beat,  that  they  astonish  itself.  We 
are  greater  than  we  know,  and  dimly  feel  it  with  every  ap 
proach  to  the  great  hereafter.  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what 

we  shall  be." 

******* 

"  Now,  I  '11  tell  you  what  't  is,"  said  Aunt  Roxy,  opening 
the  door,  "  all  the  strength  this  'ere  girl  spends  a-talkin'  to 
night,  will  be  so  much  taken  out  o'  the  whole  cloth  to-mor 
row." 

Moses  started  up.  "  I  ought  to  have  thought  of  that, 
Mara." 

"  Ye  see,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  she  's  been  through  a  good 
deal  to-day,  and  she  must  be  got  to  sleep  at  some  rate  or 
other  to-night.  '  Lord,  if  he  sleep  he  shall  do  well,'  the 
Bible  says,  and  it 's  one  of  my  best  nussin'  maxims." 

"  And  a  good  one,  too,  Aunt  Roxy  "  said  Mara.  "  Good 
night,  dear  boy,  you  see  we  must  all  mind  Aunt  Roxy." 

Moses  bent  down  and  kissed  her,  and  felt  her  arms  around 
his  neck. 

"  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,"  she  whispered.  In 
spite  of  himself  Moses  felt  the  storm  that  had  risen  in  his 
bosom  that  morning  soothed  by  the  gentle  influences  which 
Mara  breathed  upon  it.  There  is  a  sympathetic  power  in 
all  states  of  mind,  and  they  who  have  reached  the  deep  se 
cret  of  eternal  rest  have  a  strange  power  of  imparting  calm 
to  others. 

It  was  in  the  very  crisis  of  the  battle  that  Christ  said  to 
his  disciples,  "  My  peace  1  give  unto  you"  and  they  that  are 


426  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

made  one  with  him  acquire  like  precious  power  of  shedding 
round  them  repose,  as  evening  flowers  shed  odors.  Moses 
went  to  his  pillow  sorrowful  and  heart-stricken,  but  bitter 
or  despairing  he  could  not  be  with  the  consciousness  of  that 
present  angel  in  the  house. 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  427 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

THE  next  morning  rose  calm  and  bright  with  that  won 
derful  and  mystical  stillness  and  serenity  which  glorify  au 
tumn  days.  It  was  impossible  that  such  skies  could  smile 
and  such  gentle  airs  blow  the  sea  into  one  great  waving 
floor  of  sparkling  sapphires  without  bringing  cheerfulness  to 
human  hearts.  You  must  be  very  despairing  indeed  when 
Nature  is  doing  her  best,  to  look  her  in  the  face  sullen  and 
defiant.  So  long  as  there  is  a  drop  of  good  in  your  cup,  a 
penny  in  your  exchequer  of  happiness,  a  bright  day  reminds 
you  to  look  at  it,  and  feel  that  all  is  not  gone  yet. 

So  felt  Moses  when  he  stood  in  the  door  of  the  brown 
house,  while  Mrs.  Fennel  was  clinking  plates  and  spoons 
as  she  set  the  breakfast-table,  and  Zephaniah  Fennel  in  his 
shirt-sleeves  was  washing  in  the  back-room,  while  Miss  Roxy 
came  down-stairs  in  a  business-like  fashion  bringing  sundry 
bowls,  plates,  dishes,  and  mysterious  pitchers  from  the  sick 
room. 

"  Well,  Aunt  Roxy,  you  a'n't  one  that  lets  the  grass  grow 
under  your  feet,"  said  Mrs.  Fennel.  "  How  is  the  dear  child 
this  morning  ?  " 

"  Well,  she  had  a  better  night  than  one  could  have  ex 
pected,"  said  Miss  Roxy,  "  and  by  the  time  she 's  had  her 
breakfast,  she  expects  to  sit  up  a  little  and  see  her  friends." 
Miss  Roxy  said  this  in  a  cheerful  tone,  looking  encourag 
ingly  at  Moses  whom  she  began  to  pity  and  patronize,  now 
she  saw  how  real  was  his  affliction. 


428  THE  PEARL  OF   ORE'S   ISLAND. 

After  breakfast  Moses  went  to  see  her ;  she  was  sitting  up 
in  her  white  dressing-gown  looking  so  thin  and  poorly,  and 
everything  in  the  room  was  fragrant  with  the  spicy  smell 
of  the  monthly  roses,  whose  late  buds  and  blossoms  Miss 
Roxy  had  gathered  for  the  vases.  She  seemed  so  natural,  so 
calm  and  cheerful,  so  interested  in  all  that  went  on  around 
her,  that  one  almost  forgot  that  the  time  of  her  stay  must  be 
so  short.  She  called  Moses  to  come  and  look  at  her  drawings, 
/  and  paintings  of  flowers  and  birds,  —  full  of  reminders  they 
I  were  of  old  times,  —  and  then  she  would  have  her  pencils  and 
colors,  and  work  a  little  on  a  bunch  of  red  rock-columbine, 
that  she  had  begun  to  do  for  him  ;  and  she  chatted  of  all  the 
old  familiar  places  where  flowers  grew,  and  of  the  old  talks 
they  had  had  there,  till  Moses  quite  forgot  himself;  forgot 
that  he  was  in  a  sick  room,  till  Aunt  Roxy,  warned  by  the 
deepening  color  on  Mara's  cheeks,  interposed  her  "nussing" 
authority,  that  she  must 'do  no  more  that  day. 

Then  Moses  laid  her  down,  and  arranged  her  pillows  so 
that  she  could  look  out  on  the  sea,  and  sat  and  read  to  her 
till  it  was  time  for  her  afternoon  nap ;  and  when  the  evening 
shadows  drew  on,  he  marvelled  with  himself  how  the  day 
had  gone. 

Many  such  there  were  all  that  pleasant  month  of  Septem 
ber,  an4  he  was  with  her  all  the  time,  watching  her  wants 
and  doing  her  bidding,  —  reading  over  and  over  with  a  soft 
ened  modulation  her  favorite  hymns  and  chapters,  arranging 
her  flowers,  and  bringing  her  home  wild  bouquets  from  all 
her  favorite  wood-haunts,  which  made  her  sick-room  seem 
like  some  sylvan  bower.  Sally  Kittridge,  was  there  too,  al 
most  every  day,  with  always  some  friendly  offering  or  some 
helpful  deed  of  kindness,  and  sometimes  they  two  together 
would  keep  guard  over  the  invalid  while  Miss  Roxy  went 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S  ISLAND.  429 

home  to  attend  to  some  of  her  own  more  peculiar  concerns. 
Mara  seemed  to  rule  all  around  her  with  calm  sweetness  and 
wisdom,  speaking  unconsciously  only  the  speech  of  heaven, 
talking  of  spiritual  things,  not  in  an  excited  rapture  or  wild 
ecstasy,  but  with  the  sober  certainty  of  waking  bliss.  She 
seemed  like  one  of  the  sweet  friendly  angels  one  reads  of  in 
the  Old  Testament,  so  lovingly  companionable,  walking  and 
talking,  eating  and  drinking,  with  mortals,  yet  ready  at  any 
unknown  moment  to  ascend  with  the  flame  of  some  sacrifice 
and  be  gone.  There  are  those  (a  few  at  least),  whose  bless 
ing  it  has  been  to  have  kept  for  many  days  in  bonds  of 
earthly  fellowship,  a  perfected  spirit  in  whom  the  work  of 
purifying  love  was  wholly  done,  who  lived  in  calm  victory 
over  sin  and  sorrow  and  death,  ready  at  any  moment  to  be 
called  to  the  final  mystery  of  joy. 

Yet  it  must  come  at  last,  the  moment  when  heaven 
claims  its  own,  and  it  came  at  last  in  the  cottage  on  Orr's 
Island.  There  came  a  day  when  the  room  so  sacredly  cheer 
ful  was  hushed  to  a  breathless  stillness ;  the  bed  was  then 
all  snowy  white,  and  that  soft  still  sealed  face,  the  parted 
waves  of  golden  hair,  the  little  hands  folded  over  the  white 
robe,  all  had  a  sacred  and  wonderful  calm,  a  rapture  of  re 
pose  that  seemed  to  say  "  it  is  done." 

They  who  looked  on  her  wondered ;  it  was  a  look  that 
sunk  deep  into  every  heart ;  it  hushed  down  the  common 
cant  of  those  who,  according  to  country  custom,  went  to 
stare  blindly  at  the  great  mystery  of  death,  —  for  all  that 
came  out  of  that  chamber  smote  upon  their  breasts  and 
went  away  in  silence,  revolving  strangely  whence  might 
come  that  unearthly  beauty,  that  celestial  joy. 

Once  more,  in  that  very  room  where  James  and  Naomi 
Lincoln  had  lain  side  by  side  in  their  coffins,  sleeping  rest- 


430  THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND. 

fully,  there  was  laid  another  form,  shrouded  and  coffined, 
but  with  such  a  fairness  and  tender  purity,  such  a  mysteri 
ous  fulness  of  joy  in  its  expression,  that  it  seemed  more 
natural  to  speak  of  that  rest  as  some  higher  form  of  life 
than  of  death. 

Once  more  were  gathered  the  neighborhood;  all  the  faces, 
known  in  this  history,  shone  out  in  one  solemn  picture,  of 
which  that  sweet  restful  form  was  the  centre.  Zephaniah 
Fennel  and  Mary  his  wife,  Moses  and  Sally,  the  dry  form 
of  Captain  Kittridge  and  the  solemn  face  of  his  wife,  Aunt 
Roxy  and  Aunt  Ruey,  Miss  Emily  and  Mr.  Sewell ;  but 
their  faces  all  wore  a  tender  brightness,  such  as  we  see  fall 
ing  like  a  thin  celestial  veil  over  all  the  faces  in  an  old  Flo 
rentine  painting.  The  room  was  full  of  sweet  memories,  of 
words  of  cheer,  words  of  assurance,  words  of  triumph,  and 
the  mysterious  brightness  of  that  young  face  forbade  them 
to  weep.  Solemnly  Mr.  Sewell  read,  — 

"  He  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory  ;  and  the  Lord  God 
will  wipe  away  tears  from  off  all  faces  ;  and  the  rebuke  of 
his  people  shall  he  take  away  from  off  all  the  earth  ;  for 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  it.  And  it  shall  be  said  in  that  day, 
Lo  this  is  our  God ;  we  have  waited  for  him,  and  he  will 
save  us ;  this  is  the  Lord;  we  have  waited  for  him,  we 
will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in  his  salvation." 

Then  the  prayer  trembled  up  to  heaven  with  thanksgiv 
ing,  for  the  early  entrance  of  that  fair  young  saint  into 
glory,  and  then  the  same  old  funeral  hymn,  with  its  mourn 
ful  triumph:  — 

"  Why  should  we  mourn  departed  friends 

Or  shake  at  death's  alarms, 
'T  is  but  the  voice  that  Jesus  sends 
To  call  them  to  his  arms." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  431 

Then  in  a  few  words  Mr.  Sewell  reminded  them  how 
that  hymn  had  been  sung  in  this  room  so  many  years  ago, 
when  that  frail  fluttering  orphan  soul  had  been  baptized  into 
the  love  and  care  of  Jesus,  and  how  her  whole  life  passing 
before  them  in  its  simplicity  and  beauty,  had  come  to  be  so 
holy  and  beautiful  a  close,  and  when,  pointing  to  the  calm 
sleeping  face  he  asked,  "Would  we  call  her  back  ?  "  there 
was  not  a  heart  at  that  moment  that  dared  answer,  Yes. 
Even  he  that  should  have  been  her  bridegroom  could  not 
at  that  moment  have  unsealed  the  holy  charm,  and  so  they  _ 
bore  her  away,  and  laid  the  calm  smiling  face  beneath  the 
soil,  by  the  side  of  poor  Dolores. 

*****  *  * 

"  I  had  a  beautiful  dream  last  night,"  said  Zephaniah 
Fennel,  the  next  morning  after  the  funeral,  as  he  opened  his 
Bibie  to  conduct  family  worship. 

"  What  was  it  ?  "  said  Miss  Roxy. 

"  Well  ye  see,  I  thought  I  was  out  a-walkin'  up  and  down 
and  lookin'  and  lookin'  for  something  that  I  'd  lost.  What  it 
was  I  could  n't  quite  make  out,  but  my  heart  felt  heavy  as 
if  it  would  break,  and  I  was  lookin'  all  up  and  down  the 
sands  by  the  sea-shore,  and  somebody  said  I  was  like  the 
merchantman,  seeking  goodly  pearls.  I  said  I  had  lost  my 
pearl  —  my  pearl  of  great  price  —  and  then  I  looked  up,  and 
far  off  on  the  beach,  shining  softly  on  the  wet  sands,  lay  my 
pearl.  I  thought  it  was  Mara,  but  it  seemed  a  great  pearl 
with  a  soft  moonlight  on  it ;  and  I  was  running  for  it  when 
some  one  said  *  hush,'  and  I  looked  and  I  saw  Him  a-com- 
ing  —  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  jist  as  he  walked  by  the  sea  of 
Galilee.  It  was  all  dark  night  around  Him,  but  I  could 
see  Him  by  the  light  that  came  from  his  face,  and  the  long 
hair  was  hanging  down  on  his  shoulders.  He  came  and  took 


432  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

up  my  pearl  and  put  it  on  his  forehead,  and  it  shone  out 
like  a  star,  and  shone  into  my  heart,  and  I  felt  happy ;  — 
and  he  looked  at  me  steadily,  and  rose  and  rose  in  the  air, 
and,  melted  in  the  clouds,  and  I  awoke  so  happy,  and  so 
calm ! " 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORR'S   ISLAND.  433 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

IT  was  a  splendid  evening  in  July,  and  the  sky  was  filled 
high  with  gorgeous  tabernacles  of  purple,  and  gold,  the  re 
mains  of  a  grand  thunder-shower  which  had  freshened  the 
air,  and  set  a  separate  jewel  on  every  needle  leaf  of  the  old 
pines. 

Four  years  had  passed  since  the  fair  Pearl  of  Orr's  Island 
had  been  laid  beneath  the  gentle  soil,  which  every  year  sent 
monthly  tributes  of  flowers  to  adorn  her  rest,  great  blue 
violets,  and  starry  flocks  of  ethereal  eye-brights  in  spring,  and 
fringy  asters,  and  golden  rod  in  autumn.  In  those  days  the 
tender  sentiment  which  now  makes  the  burial-place  a  culti 
vated  garden,  was  excluded  by  the  rigid  spiritualism  of  the 
Puritan  life,  which,  ever  jealous  of  that  which  concerned  the 
body,  lest  it  should  claim  what  belonged  to  the  immortal 
alone,  had  frowned  on  all  watching  of  graves,  as  an  earth 
ward  tendency,  and  enjoined  the  flight  of  faith  with  the 
spirit,  rather  than  the  yearning  for  its  cast-off  garments. j 

But  Sally  Kittridge  being  lonely,  found  something  in  her 
heart  which  could  only  be  comforted  by  visits  to  that  grave. 
So  she  had  planted  there  roses  and  trailing  myrtle,  and 
tended  and  ^watered  them ;  a  proceeding  which  was  much 
commented  on  Sunday  noons,  when  people  were  eating 
their  dinners  and  discussing  their  neighbors. 

It  is  possible  good  Mrs.  Kittridge  might  have  been  much 
scandalized  by  it,  had  she  been  in  a  condition  to  think  on 
19 


V^ 

434  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

the  matter  at  all ;  but  a  very  short  time  after  the  funeral 
she  was  seized  with  a  paralytic  shock,  which  left  her  for  a 
while  as  helpless  as  an  infant ;  and  then  she  sank  away  into 
the  grave,  leaving  Sally  the  sole  care  of  the  old  Captain. 

A  cheerful  home  she  made,  too,  for  his  old  age,  adorning 
the  house  with  many  little  tasteful  fancies  unknown  in  her 
mother's  days  ;  reading  the  Bible  to  him  and  singing  Mara's 
favorite  hymns,  with  a  voice  as  sweet  as  the  spring  blue-bird, 
v  The  spirit  of  the  departed  friend  seemed  to  hallow  the 
'  dwelling  where  these  two  worshipped  her  memory,  in  simple- 
hearted  love.  Her  paintings,  framed  in  quaint  woodland 
frames  of  moss  and  pine-cones  by  Sally's  own  ingenuity, 
adorned  the  walls.  Her  books  were  on  the  table,  and  among 
them  many  that  she  had  given  to  Moses. 

"  I  am  going  to  be  a  wanderer  for  many  years,"  he  said 
in  parting,  "  keep  these  for  me  until  I  come  back." 

And  so  from  time  to  time  passed  long  letters  between  the 
two  friends,  —  each  telling  to  the  other  the  same  story,  —  that 
they  were  lonely,  and  that  their  hearts  yearned  for  the  com- 
.  munion  of  one  who  could  no  longer  be  manifest  to  the  senses. 
I  And  each  spoke  to  the  other  of  a  world  of  hopes  and  memo 
ries  buried  with  her,  "  Which,'\each  so  constantly  said,  "  no 
one  could  understand  but  you." J  Each,  too,  was  firm  in  the 
faith  that  buried  love  must  have  no  earthly  resurrection. 
Every  letter  strenuously  insisted  that  they  should  call  each 
other  brother  and  sister,  and  under  cover  of  those  names 
the  letters  grew  longer  and  more  frequent,  and  with  every 
chance  opportunity  came  presents  from  the  absent  brother, 
which  made  the  little  old  cottage  quaintly  suggestive  with 
smell  of  spice  and  sandal-wood. 

But,  as  we  said,  this  is  a  glorious  July  evening,  —  and 
you  may  discern  two  figures  picking  their  way  over  those 


THE  PEARL   OF  ORE'S   ISLAND.  435 

low  sunken  rocks,  yellowed  with  sea-weed,  of  which  we  have 
often  spoken.  They  are  Moses  and  Sally  going  on  an  even 
ing  walk  to  that  favorite*  grotto  retreat,  which  has  so  often 
been  spoken  of  in  the  course  of  this  history. 

Moses  has  come  home  from  long  wanderings.  It  is  four 
years  since  they  parted,  and  now  they  meet  and  have  looked 
into  each  other's  eyes,  not  as  of  old,  when  they  met  in  the  first 
giddy  flush  of  youth,  but  as  fully  developed  man  and  woman. 
Moses  and  Sally  had  just  risen  from  the  tea-table  where  she 
had  presided  with  a  thoughtful  housewifery  gravity,  just  pleas 
antly  dashed  with  quaint  streaks  of  her  old  merry  wilfulness, 
while  the  old  Captain,  warmed  up  like  a  rheumatic  grass 
hopper  in  a  fine  autumn  day,  chirruped  feebly,  and  told 
some  of  his  old  stories,  which  now  he  told  every  day,  for 
getting  that  they  had  ever  been  heard  before.  Somehow  all 
three  had  been  very  happy ;  the  more  so,  from  a  shadowy 
sense  of  some  sympathizing  presence  which  was  rejoicing  to 
see  them  together  again,  and  which,  stealing  soft-footed  and 
noiseless  everywhere,  touched  and  lighted  up  every  old  fa 
miliar  object  with  sweet  memories. 

And  so  they  had  gone  out  together  to  walk  ;  to  walk  tow 
ards  the  grotto  where  Sally  had  caused  a  seat  to  be  made, 
and  where  she  declared  she  had  passed  hours  and  hours, 
knitting,  sewing,  or  reading. 

"  Sally,"  said  Moses,  "  do  you  know  I  am  tired  of  wander 
ing  ?  I  am  coming  home  now.  I  begin  to  want  a  home  of 
my  own."  This  he  said  as  they  sat  together  on  the  rustic 
seat  and  looked  off  on  the  blue  sea. 

"  Yes,  you  must,"  said  Sally.  "  How  lonely  that  ship 
looks,  just  coming  in  there." 

"  Yes,  they  are  beautiful,"  said  Moses  abstractedly  ;  and 
Sally  rattled  on  about  the  difference  between  sloops  and 


436  THE  PEARL  OF  ORE'S  ISLAND. 

brigs ;  seeming  determined  that  there  should  be  no  silence, 
such  as  often  comes  in  ominous  gaps  between  two  friends 
who  have  long  been  separated,  ancl  have  each  many  things 
to  say  with  which  the  other  is  not  familiar. 

"  Sally ! "  said  Moses,  breaking  in  with  a  deep  voice  on 
one  of  these  monologues.  "  Do  you  remember  some  pre 
sumptuous  things  I  once  said  to  you,  in  this  place  ?  " 

Sally  did  not  answer,  and  there  was  a  dead  silence  in  which 
they  could  hear  the  tide  gently  dashing  on  the  weedy  rocks. 

"  You  and  I  are  neither  of  us  what  we  were  then,  Sally," 
said  Moses.  "  We  are  as  different  as  if  we  were  each 
another  person.  We  have  been  trained  in  another  life, — 
educated  by  a  great  sorrow,  —  is  it  not  so  ?  " 

"  I  know  it,"  said  Sally. 

"  And  why  should  we  two,  who  have  a  world  of  thoughts 
and  memories  which  no  one  can  understand  but  the  other,  — 
why  should  we,  each  of  us,  go  on  alone  ?  If  we  must,  why 
then,  Sally,  I  must  leave  you,  and  I  must  write  and  receive 
no  more  letters,  for  I  have  found  that  you  are  becoming  so 
wholly  necessary  to  me,  that  if  any  other  should  claim  you, 
I  could  not  feel  as  I  ought.  Must  I  go  ? " 

Sally's  answer  is  not  on  record ;  but  one  infers  what  it  was 
from  the  fact  that  they  sat  there  very  late,  and  before  they 
knew  it,  the  tide  rose  up  and  shut  them  in,  and  the  moon 
rose  up  in  full  glory  out  of  the  water,  and  still  they  sat  and 
talked,  leaning  on  each  other,  till  a  cracked,  feeble  voice 
called  down  through  the  pine-trees  above,  like  a  hoarse 
old  cricket,  — 

"  Children,  be  you  there  ?" 

"  Yes,  father,"  said  Sally,  blushing  and  conscious. 

"  Yes,  all  right,"  said  the  deep  bass  of  Moses.  "  I  '11  bring 
her  back  when  I  've  done  with  her,  Captain." 


THE  PEARL  OF  ORR'S  ISLAND.  437 

"  Wai',  —  wal' ;  I  was  gettin'  consarned ;  but  I  see  I  don't 
need  to.  I  hope  you  won't  get  no  colds  nor  nothin'." 

They  did  not ;  but  in  the  course  of  a  month  there  was  a 
wedding  at  the  brown  house  of  the  old  Captain,  which  every 
body  in  the  parish  was  glad  of,  and  was  voted  without  dis 
sent  to  be  just  the  thing. 

Miss  Roxy,  grimly  approbative,  presided  over  the  prep 
arations,  and  all  the  characters  of  our  story  appeared,  and 
more,  having  on  their  wedding-garments.  Nor  was  the 
wedding  less  joyful,  that  all  felt  the  presence  of  a  heavenly 
guest,  silent  and  loving,  seeing  and  blessing  all,  whose  voice 
seemed  to  say  in  every  heart,  — 

"  He  turneth  the  shadow  of  death  into  morning." 


THE   END. 


CAMBRIDGE:  PRINTED  BY  H.  o.  HOUGHTON. 


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